Intoxication
by Missie2
Summary: When Rei attracts the attention of a mysterious stranger, it becomes a battle of minds between the two and a battle of time for those on the outside...Yaoi ReiKai
1. Default Chapter

Intoxication

Chapter 1

This is my first Beyblade fic. I don't own Beyblade. If I did, I'd get rid of that dreadful rock/pop music that plays in the dub, hire Yoko Kanno and some decent voice actors, and play up the yaoi angle so much that the homophobes couldn't flame us fanfic writers anymore. Then I'd laugh. Heh.

__

History is full of stories about great men whose downfall was brought about by love, or even lust at a basic level. Julius Caesar signed his death warrant when Cleopatra emerged from that rug. Henry V111 converted an entire country just so he could marry his pregnant mistress. And such devotion isn't merely inspired by the so-called "fairer sex." James 1 risked his reputation and his kingdom on his relationships with the young men he was infatuated with. In the end, he died alone in his prison cell, murdered by someone who didn't approve of his lifestyle.

How foolish, to risk your life and lifestyle over something so simple. Though love is something we cannot do without, it is easy to inspire. But the real dilemma is, who is worthy of my love? If it is such a valuable thing that lives could be risked for it, as a superior being my love should only be bestowed on superior beings. And why stop at just one? Could I truly be happy with just one? No, never. No great man ever has just one. I shall have as many as I desire.

And they will all love me.

" Hey, Max, have I put on weight?

Takao was looking at the picture from as many angles as the newspaper would allow, his forehead crinkled in annoyance. Max peered over his shoulder at the photo, and soon he was frowning too.

"Why didn't anyone tell me I look that stupid when I smile? I'm cross-eyed here!"

The photo was taken by someone with a very expensive, very unforgiving camera by some journalist for a mawkish tabloid. The story that accompanied the picture was mindless filler, the whole idea was that a picture of the relatively famous Bladebreakers would encourage hormonal teenage girls into buying the otherwise trashy paper. Unfortunately, the photo wasn't a very flattering one.

" Relax, Takao. The camera adds ten pounds." Rei sounded very relaxed over the whole thing. Then again, it was hard to take a bad picture of Rei. Today was an exception. Takao threw the paper across to him. When Rei looked at it, his heart sank.

" Aw, man! I look like a girl!" The offending picture looked to have been taken from a clump of bushes, while the team of unfortunate bladers were unaware. Tyson was caught stuffing a handful of potato chips into his mouth while his stomach bulged unattractively from his t-shirt. Max was caught mid-laugh, with a nice view of the back of his throat. And yes, his eyes were crossed. Kai looked the way he always looked, scowling away quite unhappily. But the digital lens and shutters highlighted every bag, line and wrinkle. Kai looked twenty years older than he really was.

Only Rei seemed to have gotten away with his image intact. His face was fixed into a neutral expression so that his natural attractiveness shone through. But the camera caught him on a day when he had his hair undone, and it flowed gracefully down his back. The sight of his silky black strands shining under the midday sun reminded Rei of some really bad movies from the seventies. He did look like a girl.

" Okay, affirmative action time! I say we go to every newsstand in the district, buy every copy of this paper and have a little bonfire in the hotel grounds. Who's with me?" Due to the cringe worthy nature of the photo, Takao's plan sounded promising. Rei spoke up from his spot on the couch, under a pillow.

" I say we hide in here for a few months until this all blows over."

" What the hell are you complaining about? You look good in this picture! You're the only one who does, lucky bastard!"

" One day. The one freakin' day I let you convince me to leave my hair down, and the world gets to see me looking like Cher. That's lucky."

Later that night, Rei was sitting on the bed of the hotel room he was sharing with Kai, brushing his hair. In was a tedious ritual that had to be done every night otherwise he's wake up the next morning to find a mess of knots. Kai was lying on the other bed, eyes closed. Rei couldn't tell whether he was sleeping or deep in thought. Over the last two years since they'd been team mates, Kai was becoming less introverted and a little more friendly. Getting him to open up was still an uphill struggle, but every little helped. He was always more likely to talk to Rei, who wasn't as in-your-face as Takao or a chatterbox like Max. Rei had a knack for knowing when to speak and when to shut up. If they didn't connect, at least they didn't clash. Rei cursed as the brush caught a tangle and pulled his scalp with it.

" Why don't you just cut it off, if it bothers you?"

Kai's voice, quiet as usual, sounded like a gunshot in the silent room. Rei considered the question.

" My hair's always been this long. Back in the village, it was always easier to tie it back than get it cut. It's been like this so long, I couldn't imagine myself without it."

" Never know until you bite the bullet."

" It'd be like hacking of an arm or a leg. I couldn't go through with it."

That was something Kai could understand. He still applied those strange blue triangles to his face every morning. He had never known exactly what they were, but he felt a sense of comfort knowing they were there. Rei finished dealing with his hair and took a quick glance in the mirror on the nightstand across from him. What he failed to mention was the reason his hair had been kept long. Thirteen years ago, Rei's father had forbidden him to have it cut, ever. Six years ago, Rei's father had died, but Rei couldn't bring himself to sever that last tie with his parents. Still, he could never stand to leave it the way it was, so he kept it hidden. It was the best he could do.

He liked to look at the papers. Mindless drivel for the masses, but they proved to Him day after day his superiority. And they offered some outside contact for the ones who loved Him. He leafed through each page with an air of disgust. Celebrities, fashion, sex, scandal, this is what passed for news? Where was the art, the literature, the culture? He let out a long-suffering sigh, and was about to throw the paper away when a picture in the corner caught his eye.

The photo was of four young players of some ridiculous sport or other, and three of the young men in the picture were unremarkable. One of them, however, made His breath catch in His throat.

A beautiful young boy, with ebony black hair long and silky cascading down his back, eyes dreamy and staring into the distance at some mystery target lost to those liquid gold depths. His mouth was open slightly, just enough to show a hint of white teeth against the pale pink of his lips. If He were an artist, and He considered Himself an art connoisseur, this was an invitation, an enticement, one that He fully intended to answer. He ran his finger gently over the photo, whispering gently to it.

" You will be mine. And maybe, I will love you."


	2. Chapter 2

Intoxication

Chapter Two

Okay, before I start Chapter Two, I'd like to thank Tsubasa for her review. All at once it was the best, the weirdest and the longest review I've ever gotten, and I've gotten some strange ones! Thanks for taking some time to give me an insight into what it's like reading one of my fics. But I never take criticism lying down, so I'd like to just clear up some of the things you pointed out.

I have no Roman numeral fonts on my computer. I improvised, albeit awkwardly.

I was taught word processing by a nun in an Irish Catholic school. Read any Maeve Binchy novel and you'll probably find the same formatting. It's a hard habit to break.

When I wrote the story, I had markers up to define scene changes. It must have switched when I was uploading it.

The breath-throat clash I've always written and spoken the way I wrote it in the story. What it means is that he was breathing away quite happily and the shock of what he saw in the picture caused his throat to constrict of its own accord. My Grandmother was very fond of that saying, grammatically correct or not.

The fact that He considers Himself an art connoisseur is an unlovable trait of this particular character, so it is an if on the part of the reader and His firm opinion.

I know it's too short. I wrote it at three in the morning and I was a wee bit drunk.

When I was in school, one thing that really angered me was that I could write a really fantastic essay but it would still be marked with a low percentage because I forgot to refer to god/him/himself/the lord/anyone even remotely deified with capital letters. Giving this honour to the villain of my story is a small, but sweet, revenge.

I don't think I'll be able to get away with a Pg 13 rating. I'll probably end up changing it.

Okay, enough of this. On with the show!

It was a rare night that Kai was unable to sleep. Normally, he was so in tune with his body that he could shut off his mind anytime, anywhere. The night of the paper debacle, he felt a strange burning sensation in the pit of his stomach. It was his body's way of telling him something was wrong. It had always been a valuable quirk during his training at the abbey, and during his more taxing Bey battles. That night, however, it was just a nuisance. With a groan, he rose from his bed and switched on the lamp. The hotel room, bare and sterile during the day, gloomy and claustrophobic at night, achieved a sort of cosy feel under the dim light of the lamp. Kai glanced over to his team-mate's bed.

Rei was buried underneath the covers curled up like a dormouse. Only the top of his head and his eyes were visible, his eyelashes fluttering gently. Was he in the throes of a dream, or was the sudden introduction of light into the room disturbing him? Kai didn't hang around long enough to find out. He pulled on his clothes quickly, snatched up his Beyblade and turned of the lamp before leaving the room.

From underneath His wide-brimmed Stetson, He watched the Russian boy hasten through the large hotel bar towards the old-fashioned courtyard. It seemed that He had been blessed with a stroke of luck, but He felt a surge of annoyance nevertheless. He had gone to all the bother of preparing to deal with the boy who wasn't his target, only to find it wouldn't be necessary. Still, it meant He would be able to leave with His prize much quicker than He expected. That was a good thing, He mused, He didn't know how much longer He could stand the bar full of commoners. Nothing special about any of them, though they all thought themselves so important, so wonderful.

" You are nothing compared to me!" He was dying to scream at them, to make them understand, to make them _see _what he already knew. He was better, better than them all, and they were so corrupted by their slovenly, wretched existences that they failed to see it…

… He rubbed His temple, trying to will away the pain. His rages were becoming harder to keep under control. But then, it was no time for rages. If He didn't hurry, the opportunity that He had been blessed with would go to waste, and He would have to take care of the Russian boy. Not that it bothered Him, but when one has such fortune it would be a crime to let it go to waste. So He rose from His seat, picked up His black medical bag and made his way to the lift.

The door made a soft clicking sound as it opened, and Rei's bed was drenched in the cold, overly bright shine of the light bulb in the hallway. Rei seemed to know, even in his sleep, and he gathered the covers around him more securely. The intruder smiled fondly, the way one might smile at a kitten when it trips over its own feet. He closed the door, feeling more comfortable in the darkness. He had excellent night vision, so good it was almost like having a permanent set of infra-red goggles. He saw the pale outline of the sleeping figure quite clearly. Gently, He pulled back the covers, trying not to wake the boy and make His task unnecessarily difficult. Then, for a while, He just stood still.

The boy in the photograph was even more stunning up close. To any normal passer-by, Rei was as close to perfectly beautiful as a person could get. Even things that weren't immediately noticeable, such as bone structure and muscle tone, seemed to be perfectly balanced. But He wasn't just any casual admirer. He was an artist and a lover of art, and He saw the tiny, almost imperceptible flaws. The split ends in that long ebony hair, the beginnings of stress lines around the eyes, the way his teeth protruded slightly over the bottom lip as he breathed… all this could be fixed. Then, there was his age. He tended to go for men much older, more mature, just like he preferred Renaissance paintings to those of the medieval era. But, He mused, great art is timeless, and so is great beauty. Wasn't Helen of Troy ten years old when she was first married?

While He was caught up in His thoughts, Rei started to wake. He was a light sleeper under most circumstances, and he had been on edge all evening, for reasons unknown to himself. Rei also had a sense for when the atmosphere in a room has changed, much the same way animals seem able to tell when someone is upset or stressed. The man at the bed noticed that his subject was stirring, and cursed Himself for getting so caught up in His musings. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out the needle and the small vial of cloudy liquid. Then, the boy sat up. He rubbed his eyes drowsily, and saw a figure in the dark.

" Kai? Is that you?"

The man pierced the foil cap of the liquid with the tip of the needle, urging it along. He didn't have much time left. Rei's eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he realised with a start that there was a stranger in his room. And that he was alone. And probably in mortal danger. He practically leaped out of the bed, only to have a horribly powerful arm close on his and slam him back down. Rei felt his head connect briefly with the wall, and a blinding pain followed with a feeling of gushing fluid surrounded his skull. Then, a voice assailed him from the pitch black.

" Don't do that again. I don't want you damaged."

There was something in that silky, seductive tone that had Rei terrified. He couldn't pinpoint it, but he felt a trace of utter madness in those few ordinary words. Ordinary words, indeed, but when spoken with that voice they took on some malevolent life of their own. Rei smelled His breath on his face before he felt it, it held the scent of an exotic wine that had become poisoned with some unknown toxin. The voice again.

" Don't say anything, don't struggle. Just accept your fate like a good child, and we need not be here any longer than we should be."

There was a dull stinging sensation in Rei's left arm, but he didn't dare fight. He already figured out that, whoever this man was, He was dangerous. He would try to figure out who and what He was before he could fight against Him, otherwise he's end up just plain old dead. Rei's mind started to lose focus, his eyes slid shut, and the muscles that he'd held rigid with terror relaxed with merciful unconciousness.

The man smiled. Now came the really ingenious part of his plan. Folded up in his smaller medical bag was a larger piece of luggage that could be expanded to six times its compact size. His captive was just about small enough and just about lithe enough to fit into the case with some degree of comfort. He packed the boy in with his knees against his chest and his arms pressed against his face. Rei, being dead to the world, felt nothing of this.

He walked out of the hotel unnoticed, dressed all in black and carrying two pieces of luggage.

Kai remained at the courtyard from the wee hours of the morning right up to midday of the next day. The other Bladebreakers were due to arrive at around eleven for a training session, but Kai liked to be one step ahead. Plus that workout he'd put himself through all night helped distract him from the feeling of unease he had been nursing.

Eleven o clock passed, then eleven thirty, then twelve. Kai wasn't worried. The others, especially Takao, had a habit of being late. Twelve thirty passed by. Kai took a walk around the hotel grounds. One o clock came and went, still no Bladebreakers. Kai felt mildly irritated, though the burning sensation in his stomach intensified. When the clock in the fake clock tower at the end of the hotel chimed for one thirty, he was about to storm into the hotel and get each and every one of them outside for training. Just as he was about to open the doors, they opened from the inside and Max collided with him. They landed in a graceless heap on the cement paving, but Kai had no time to be annoyed. Max launched into a tirade of incoherent babble.

" What? Slow down Max, I can't understand you!" Max was obviously upset, his clothes looked like the had been thrown on and there was a wild look in his eyes. Kai laid his hand and the blonde boy's head and attempted to calm him down. Finally, when Max got his breath back, he explain why he was so harried.

" Rei's missing. We can't find him anywhere!"

Kai gripped Max's arm so tightly that the younger boy winced in pain. The burning in his stomach had become a full-blown conflagration.

" Max, tell me everything. But first tell me you're not overreacting, and that this isn't some stupid joke."

Kai already knew Max was serious, but nevertheless his heart sank into his shoes when Max shook his head.

" He wasn't in his room, Kai. We looked all over the hotel, and the staff say they didn't see him leave. There's cameras on every exit, but none of them caught him. And there was a needle by the bed…"

At this last part, Kai shoved Max away from where he was sitting, half off half on his lap, and tore up the stairs to the room he's been sharing with Rei. He threw open the door with such force that it ricocheted off of the wall and nearly slammed shut again. He didn't really know what he had hoped to find, but what he did find made him feel sick.

The small room was empty, the bed he's left Rei in the previous night abandoned and cold. The blankets were pushed to the bottom of the bed, a sure sign that there was something amiss. Even after getting up, Rei usually left the bedcovers sprawled across the mattress. There was a small, almost imperceptible dent in the wall, a telltale mark of a struggle maybe? Worst of all, the syringe Max had mentioned was sitting on the nightstand beside an empty glass bottle like something out of a disgusting practical joke. Kai already knew it wasn't a joke.

Takao burst into the room at that moment, pale and panting heavily. He leaned onto Kai's shoulder and gave him a slightly better account of what was going on than Max had been able to.

" I came in here at around quarter to eleven. No-one's seen him since last night. I even asked the hotel staff to look at the security tapes. Nothing! He couldn't leave the hotel without being seen, Kai! What are we going to do?"

Kai walked over to his own bed, and sat on it gingerly.

" Call the police. Tell them we think our friend has been kidnapped. We'll take it from there."

Kai had it made up in his own mind that he didn't like Officer Kane. Even his physical appearance was cause to dislike him. He was a big man with a pot belly, pockmarked skin and missing several teeth, possibly because of that toothpick he insisted on chewing. But what Kai really hated about him was the way he fondled the sheets on Rei's bed, the way he scratched his double chin and smiled when he examined the dent in the wall, the way he casually tossed the empty vial into the air and deftly caught it. The other officers were gathering forensic evidence from various points of the room, but Officer Kane was just strolling around and smirking to himself. Takao and Max sat on Kai's bed, watching the proceedings with glazed eyes. Kai himself was leaning against the wall nearest the door, glaring at Officer Kane. Finally, the policemen filed out of the room, one of them stopping to whisper to Officer Kane. Kane nodded, then he spoke in his cigarette-burnished drawl to the boys.

" Okay, boys. Got a few questions to ask ya."

Kai crossed the room and sat between Takao and Max. His temper flared up when Kane sat on Rei's bed. The officer began, though he didn't take out a notebook to write anything down.

" So when did y'all notice that yer little friend was AWOL?"

Tyson answered. " About quarter to eleven. I was coming to wake him up for our training session."

" What was this training for, exactly?"

" Beyblading. We won the World Championships last year."

" I see. So you four are pretty high profile, right?"

" I guess. In beyblading circles, anyway."

" Right. Did Mr. Kon have anyone special in his life, girlfriend, boyfriend, sugar daddy, that kind of thing?"

" No." Kai answered so suddenly and firmly that Max nearly fell of the bed in shock. Kane's mouth widened into a filthy grin.

" You sound very sure."

" I know my team."

" Right. Any admirers, then? Any you know of?"

" There was a girl he had some history with, but she's in china with the rest of her team. Anyway, they're just friends now."

" Okay then. Did you notice any strange behaviour from him recently?

" No. Everything was normal," Max spoke up, sounding on the verge of tears.

" Calm down, son. It's just a question. Now about that needle, is it possible that it was for Mr, Kon's personal use?"

" What?" Kai's blood was boiling. This so-called policeman was pushing it…"

" Is it possible that the needle was for recreational purposes?"

" Well, why don't you just come out and say it? Is Rei a drug addict, isn't that what you want to know?" Now Takao was nearly in tears.

" No." Kai sounded eerily calm compared to the other two. " I'd know if he was. It would have affected his Beyblading performance. Anyway, what about the bottle? Is it some sort of fun-filled hallucinogen?"

" As a matter of fact, it ain't," growled Kane. The little blue haired shit was getting on his last nerve. " that'll be all for now, boys. I need anything else, I'll let you know. Kid's probably just throwing a tantrum, he'll be back soon. Don't worry so much."

Kane waddled out of the room towards the lift, with Kai staring daggers at him until he was out of sight. He turned back to his fellow team mates. Takao was staring out the window at the departing police, while Max was hunched over with his face nearly touching his knees. Both of them looked drained. Kai paced over to the window and watched Officer Kane struggle awkwardly into the front seat of his car.

" Hey, Kai?"

Takao's voice sounded reedy and thin, totally at odds with its normal vibrancy.

" Do you think he's right? That Rei's just wandered off somewhere?"

Kai laughed, a brittle sound that held no mirth.

" There's an impact spot on the wall, one of the boards holding up the bed is broken, there's an empty bottle of some sort of sedative on the table and all of Rei's clothes are still here. What do you think, Takao?"

Takao clamped a hand over his mouth and sank down on the bed.

" Rei's been kidnapped. And the police don't give a shit."

Officer Kane took another look at the photograph of the missing boy. Hm. Good-looking kid, he thought. He chewed down hard on his toothpick as he spoke.

" Put this incident in the Borgia file."

His partner, who was driving, looked surprised.

" Come on, Ted! That kid's what, fifteen? That's almost ten years too young to be a Borgiac."

" When it comes to maniacs, and especially this maniac, age means nothing."


	3. Chapter 3

Intoxication

Chapter 2

Wow, took me longer to get this part done. Does it say anything about me that I was watching Oz while writing both this chapter and Chapter 2? From here on, there's going to be mentions of different paintings and artists throughout the fic. I urge you, even if you're not an art lover, to look them up. Most of my favourite pieces will be included in context. Here we go.

When Rei woke up, his mouth felt as though it was full of cotton wool dipped in vinegar. The ragged breaths he took in through his teeth let him know, at the very least, that he wasn't gagged. The ceiling loomed in front of his barely opened eyes, black and vast as outer space. But wait, there was no such thing as true black, was there? The colour black was really just an incredibly dark shade of blue. Rei couldn't figure out why this was important, but at that moment it felt like the one unifying truth that brought balance and harmony to all.

Slowly and painfully, his mind began to clear. The one unifying truth was lost to him when he started to realise what was going on around him. There was a dull ache in the back of his head, and what felt like a bruise forming on a spot near his elbow. He was lying on his side, his right leg lying on top of his left, and his hair was loose. The left side of his face was buried in his hair, blocking his nose so he had to breathe through his mouth. Then, suddenly, Rei came right out of his stupor with frightening clarity. He shot up into a sitting position, and only then discovered that he was naked. A cold sense of terror gripped him as he clutched at the only item of cloth in the vicinity.

It was a thin sheet of white silk, almost transparent and too small to cover him decently. If he brought it to his chest, it exposed most of his thighs. If he fixed it around his thighs, his chest was too bare for comfort. When Rei finally had it in a position he was somewhat comfortable with, he relaxed on what he guessed was a bed (he feared that he'd panic if he looked at it) and took a good look at the room he found himself in.

It was less a room than a cell. The door was made of steel that glinted menacingly with a dull shine, three thick bolted locks jutted out like teeth, ready to tear him to pieces. Rei tore his gaze away from the door, but the rest of the room was built from the same cold steel. The only other thing of note about the place was that it was covered with paintings. Ordinarily, this might have been some sort of comfort to him, but not these paintings. The common subject of the pictures chilled Rei even more than the cold metal cell.

The recurring theme in various forms scattered across the room appeared to by abduction. Rei actually recognised one of the paintings as Titian's _The Rape of Europa_, painted when rape meant an encounter under false pretences, rather than the myriad of meanings that the little word invoked in modern times. Rei remembered thinking that Europa didn't seem to mind being carried away by Zeus in the shape of a bull. He had come across the work before in one of the galleries the Bladebreakers visited during a stay in Italy. He had found many works in several galleries that echoed the sentiment portrayed in the Titian painting. And, looking around, he saw reproductions of those images that had so captured him back then.

__

Jupiter and Io by Correggio, a painting of a young girl being seduced by a wisp of cloud, hung near the door. _Apollo and Daphne _by Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo, an image of a girl changing into a tree to escape the amorous attentions of the God Apollo, was placed at the head of the bed. _Deianira Abducted by the Centaur Nessus_ by Guido Reni showed a woman being carried off by a half-man, half-horse. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her face contorted into an expression of fear. It had pride of place, crowning the door frame. There were other works Rei had never seen before, but the theme remained the same. An androgynous young boy carried away by an eagle, a nymph attempting in vain to shield her nudity from a winged youth, another Europa and Zeus scenario, three scenes of naked girls chained to rocks being rescued by a man on horseback… what really had Rei alarmed was the use of a thin sheet to try and conceal the subject's modesty that never quite worked, and how much it mirrored his own current situation.

" I was wondering when you would wake up."

Rei wheeled around at the sound of that voice. He hadn't even heard the door open, or close for that matter. It wasn't possible for the owner of that voice to have been there the whole time… was it? However he got there, he was there. Rei clasped the sheet closer to his body, his eyes catching the painting of the nymph trying to do the same thing. The voice spoke again, quiet as the hiss of a snake and coated with as much poison.

" You are incomparably beautiful when in slumber, but I desired to see your eyes in a suitable light. There is no need to conceal yourself, I have seen you naked. It was very satisfying."

Rei was afraid to speak, but felt he needed to.

" Where am I?"

His voice was soft and shaky, like he imagined the nymph in the painting would sound like if she had a voice. He was disgusted with himself. The voice spoke, and Rei could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

" You are here. I am also here. We are here together. But that isn't important, not yet, anyhow. Don't you want to know why you are here?"

Rei nodded, swallowing. He had kept his eyes on the painting of the nymph during their exchange, but when the owner of the voice moved forward he had to look at him.

He had no face, or at least that was how it appeared. He was wearing a mask that obscured his face, made of porcelain and decorated with feathers around the sides so that if he had hair, it wasn't visible. The porcelain was lacquered black and white in the shape of a butterfly spread over the eyes, and under the glow of the tiny individual light fixtures above the paintings, it shined as malevolently as the steel walls of the cell. He wore black, skin-tight breeches and a white dress shirt, covered by a dark blue knee-length coat embroidered with flowers of some exotic breed. He appeared to be well built, exceptionally tall and thin around the waist but strong around the calves and shoulders. What scared Rei the most was His eyes. The sockets of the porcelain mask where just wide enough to see His irises. They were pitch black, no light could penetrate them and there was no doubt in Rei's mind that they would never dilute to blue, no matter how you treated them. It was like looking into the eyes of a shark just before it attacks. He strode forward with purpose and stood in front of Rei. His hand, even colder than the steel Rei's feet were resting on, caressed Rei's unbound hair delicately. His voice filled the room like a toxic gas.

" You are so very lovely. I've never seen one like you before, so I had to have you."

He lifted several tendrils of mellifluous black hair and closed His fist around them, bringing them to the nose cut into His mask, he inhaled deeply. Rei's whole body stiffened, and he closed his eyes. All of his senses were screaming at him not to show any signs of weakness in front of this man. But the cell, the paintings, his nudity, and now this man was smelling his hair… it was all Rei could do to hold himself together.

" But, you're not quite ready yet."

Rei opened his eyes. There was hope here, he could feel it. He already knew there was no point in begging for mercy or trying to fight. This guy was a bona fide psychopath, and such things would most likely get him killed. But if he was patient and kept his wits about him, maybe he could emerge relatively unharmed.

_ Better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, right, Rei? That philosophy's worked for you before, and it may work now. And let's face it, sugah, you ain't got to many options. You're stuck here bare-assed whether you like it or not. And in any situation where you're bare-assed, the most important thing is to tread carefully. Remember that._

His internal monologue was a voice of reason in a ludicrous situation, and Rei had never been so grateful for it. He listened intently to what He was saying.

" You have many flaws, small ones, but flaws nonetheless. We will have to take care of them before you are ready for me. And we will start right away."

Ready for me? Rei was almost thankful that He was so incredibly crazy. If this had happened with anyone else, he would have already been raped and killed.

_ Great. You were kidnapped by a rapist who doesn't think you're good enough to be raped by him, so he's not going to touch you until you meet his high standards. Hi Ho silver lining, right?_

" I'm having clothes made up for you. I think red is your colour, and it wouldn't be proper to let you remain nude. You will get three sets, and put one out for washing every night. Your bathroom is through the door beside Apollo and Daphne. I insist that you bathe every day, and any time I deem necessary. Your meals will arrive through a slot in the door three times a day, unless I tell you otherwise."

He finally dropped Rei's hair. His voice took on a sinister tone.

" You will always obey if I give you an instruction. You will not raise your voice to me, or use foul language in my presence. You will not attempt to physically overpower me, and under no circumstances are you to attempt to run away from here. Is that understood?"

Rei nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. The man stroked his face gently. Then He removed a bottle from his coat pocket. He pressed it into Rei's hands.

" There is shampoo and conditioner for your hair type in the bathroom, but first use this. It should take care of those split ends. We will continue from there. I'll see you later."

He cradled Rei's face in his hand and pressed a kiss to his lips with His cold porcelain mouth. The steel door opened, and He left, taking the air He polluted with His very presence with him.

For a while, Rei just sat on the edge of the bed, numbly going over what had happened in his head. For a while, it didn't register. Then, all of a sudden, something inside of him broke. In the cold metal cell, surrounded by artist's impressions of rape and abduction, Rei lay on the bed and cried.


	4. Chapter 4

Intoxication

Chapter 4

I've gotten so many lovely reviews since I started this fic. I'd like to thank everybody for taking the time to give me credit for my work. It's giving me incentive to write more ambitiously. Enjoy.

P.S: It's going to be about a week before I can get the next Chapter up, and then it will be after James Joyce's birthday. So stop all that guff, give up yer aul sins and have a good week!

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Kenny was minding his own business the day after the police left. The atmosphere within the Bladebreakers was sombre and melancholy. Takao spent all day going over every nook and cranny in the hotel, searching in vain for some sort of clue as to Rei's whereabouts. When he came up with nothing, he just sat on his bed with his head in his hands. Max couldn't go longer than ten minutes without bursting into tears, and refused to leave his room. Kai stayed in the courtyard of the hotel, spinning Dranzer over and over, seemingly deep in thought. So it was from early morning running into late at night. Kenny thought it would be best to retire to his own room and work on their Beyblades.

At around ten o clock at night, Kai suddenly burst into Kenny's room. All day, he'd been rather unemotional but now there was a look of grim determination etched into his face. He grabbed the chair that Kenny was sitting in and swung it around so that Kenny was facing him. When Kai spoke, the first time he'd said anything since around four o clock the previous day, his tone suggested he was not to be argued with.

" Set up your computer. We're hacking into the police files."

And then he was gone. Kenny adjusted his glasses slightly, and pulled up his Internet connection. Moments later, Kai reappeared with a sniffling Max and a morose Takao. He dragged his chair right up to the plywood table that the laptop was sitting on.

" What's going on, Kai?" said Takao. His voice sounded weak and reedy. Kai's in contrast was quiet but confident.

" Kenny's going to hack into the police files. That Kane guy knows something, and if he's not going to help us, then we'll help ourselves. We can't even begin to tackle this until we know what we're dealing with."

Hearing the conviction in Kai's words, Max and Takao brightened. Kenny looked unsure, but how could he refuse? With a sigh, he began hacking. Three times firewalls kept him from the confidential files, but at last he broke through and entered the police system files. The amount of folders, each with hundreds of profiles, were staggering.

" How are we going to find Rei's case? There must be thousands of cases, and the names are no help."

For a moment, Max's hopes had been raised. Now they were dashed again. The files all had cryptic names, such as Little Man Tate and Blind Alleycat. To casual observers, it was a mess of obscure reference points. Kenny, however, was no casual observer. He had an intensely analytical mind and knew his way around complicated structures such as this. Without a word to explain his actions, he eliminated hundreds of files with a few typed letters. The others looked on in amazement.

" Just what are you doing, chief?" Takao was used to having Kenny explain everything he did. The fact that he was so quiet about something so important was unsettling.

" I organized the files according to age, gender, crime genre and investigating officer. Rei's in one of these five."

Sure enough, only five folders remained on the screen. Kenny opened each one after the other. Three were simple custody cases involving a son kidnapped by a parent. Two ended in murder and suicide. One involved a boy so obsessed with another that he abducted the boy and locked them both away for two weeks. The case was dismissed and the perpetrator was sent to a home for the mentally ill. Then there was only one.

" That's gotta be it! We're going to find out where Rei is!" Takao thought he'd be elated to discover this. Instead he felt just a sagging relief. Kenny spoke quietly, his voice warning them to prepare for the worst.

" He's placed in the Special Victims Unit."

" What does that mean?"

" It's usually reserved for cases involving paedophiles, rapists and sexual deviants."

Max closed his eyes tight. Takao had to swallow before he could trust himself to speak.

" Well, we don't know he's in there. He might not be on the system at all…"

" Open it, Kenny." Kai spoke through gritted teeth. Kenny did as he was told.

The file was called "The Borgia Case." And sure enough Rei's picture was there. It was a small portrait sized picture taken while Rei's mind was on other things. His hair was pulled back so that his face could clearly be seen and identified. But that picture was unimportant. What was important was what was in the rest of the file. After all, Rei's friends knew what he looked like. And because they could identify him, it made the photo seem all the more incongruous in the setting it was in. The Bladebreakers stared at the photo of their friend, surrounding by the terrifying truth of what had been kept from them.

" Jesus Christ…" breathed Max.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The night of Rei's introduction to his captor ended with him crying himself into a coma-like sleep. It was impossible to tell just how long he had slept for. And when he woke up, the pillow he'd been resting on was damp. Under most circumstances, a person who finds themselves in such a predicament may jump to the conclusion that what happened the previous night was just a figment of a fevered imagination. However, Rei was absolutely certain that he wasn't dreaming. When his eyes fluttered open, the black/blue ceiling that floated into his vision confirmed this.

Clutching the all-too-revealing white sheet to his body, Rei pushed himself off of the bed. It was just too damn comfortable to lounge on for any length of time. Briefly his eyes met with those of the nymph who was still being accosted by that lecherous winged youth. Was that glimmer in her eye a dab of light deliberately placed by the artist or a sign that she sympathised with Rei's quandary? He couldn't tell, after all, wasn't she meant to be an inanimate object? Rei's ponderings on the supposed sentiments of the harassed girl was interrupted when a flash of red inside the grey-hued compartment caught his eye.

His uniform sat on a small shelf imbedded in the door, beside a tray of cold food. Rei treaded gingerly over the cold metal floor to the shelf, and picked up the garments. There wasn't much to say about them, except that they were made of some wispy, sheer material (rayon, perhaps) and they were a deep scarlet. They consisted of a set of loose trousers that would have looked indecent if not for the almost knee-length long sleeved tunic that covered them. The outfit was held together by thin pieces of ribbon, the tunic wrapping around the waist like a kimono. There were no shoes, or undergarments for that matter. And although it was better than having only that diaphanous sheet to preserve his modesty, once Rei was dressed in the provided clothes he felt ridiculously exposed. His eyes caught the nymph's again, was that glimmer a look of envy? Rei forced himself to look away. He investigated the food instead.

Although the fare was obviously prepared in haste and put together sloppily, it was expensive stuff. There was a salad made with some exotic-looking leaves, a few slices of bread dotted with herbs and smelling of garlic and a wine glass half full of red liquid. Rei sniffed it. Definitely alcoholic. His subjugator was trying to spoil him with sophisticated food and intoxicating drink. Even so, Rei ate the food quickly without savouring the taste and drank the wine, which burned his throat unpleasantly. It was only after he had finished eating that he saw the note. The kidnapper had an elegant Copperplate script, scrawled neatly across a thin slip of paper. It was the kind of handwriting that suggested years of disciplinary practice.

__

Rei,

A bell will sound later on in the evening. When it does, you will have an hour to prepare. Exactly one hour after the bell, your door will open for ten minutes and close again. You will walk down the hall into the ballroom at the back of the building, where we will be having supper. Do not linger in your room, or in the hall for any longer than five minutes. Bathe before then, and wash your hair. Leave it loose.

C.

C? What did C stand for? Rei decided to comply, only because the man's madness was evident even in this tiny note. The orders, the precise time structure, the ballroom? Rei suddenly realised that he may have slept through the bell and panicked. How much time did he have to prepare, and what would happen if he didn't have enough time? He opened the door to the bathroom, and when he saw the inside he felt a wave of nausea.

The whole room, aside from the inside of the bath, the toilet and the sink, was covered with mirrors. One stretched over the entire ceiling, panes the size of the door adorned the walls, tiny pieces of glass were inlaid as a mosaic into the sides of the bathtub, even the floor was a mirror. And surrounded by several reflections of himself every which way he looked, Rei could help but notice how pale and thin he looked, like a ghost. The fear was already eating him alive. Shaking his head, Rei brought himself out of his stupor and started filling the tub. The bottle that C had given him was sitting beside the taps, alongside the shampoo and conditioner (both for fine and oily hair, just how much did C know about him?) and a cake of soap. Rei closed his eyes to the mirrors and undressed, then stepped into the tub.

Washing his hair had always been a tricky experience, and most of the time Rei had it pulled back to avoid having to do it. There were other reasons, but he liked to keep them at the back of his mind. He tried to get through it as quickly as he could, first massaging the oily substance through the wet tendrils, and then rinsing through the shampoo and conditioner. While he was washing the remnants of the conditioner out of the ends of his hair, he heard the bell ring. It was the kind of bell you might expect to hear at a convent or monastery, high pitched and glassy. He opened his eyes, and regretted it as soon as he caught sight of his hair wet and loose, flowing around his shoulders. Closing them again, he was relieved that now at least he knew that he had time to prepare himself for what was coming, both physically and mentally.

Rei dressed quickly, and for almost an hour he stood still in the metal room with his eyes closed. He didn't want to look at the paintings, no matter how beautifully painted they were. And just looking at the wall might not be worse, but it certainly wouldn't be better. As nervous as he was, as frightened about what might happen next, he actually found himself wishing the door would open. Surely what he was going to experience couldn't be worse than the suspense of waiting for it.

__

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, right? You know he's trying to keep you on edge, and it's working. But at least when that door opens you might have some idea of what you're up against. Because standing here like this, you might as well be blind and deaf. You're pretty helpless.

There was his sensible voice, but it sounded horribly cruel. But Rei had no time to feel hurt by the cutting edge of his internal monologue. There was three high-pitched beeps, then the door slid open. Rei opened his eyes and stared into the hall. The terror he had felt last night came back in full force, but he forced himself to step outside the cell. As soon as he was out, the cell suddenly seemed like the safest place in the world.

The hallway stretched out into the distance, beset on all sides by long windows and an array of different paintings. These paintings all appeared to be religious icons. There were several Madonna-and-child, including a reproduction of Da Vinci's _Madonna with the Long Neck. _Rembrandt's _Flight into Egypt _was placed beside the entrance to Rei's cell, and Titian's _Ecce Homo_ was on the opposite wall. Rei decided against regarding the paintings for too long. With his arms wrapped around himself, he padded barefoot and without sound through the hallway.

Looking through the many windows was pointless, it was night and pitch black. The floorboards creaked lightly under Rei's feet, the huge candelabras bathed him in an amber glow. The whole atmosphere was unreal, like something out of a book by one of the Bronte sisters, gothic and brooding and filled with a sense of dread. He almost felt relief when the carved mahogany double doors appeared at the end of the hall. But after opening those doors, the relief dissipated. Rei was frozen in the doorway, unable to take another step. What was in the Ballroom was worse than anything he could have imagined in that little cell.

There was a long ornately carved table in the Ballroom surrounded by matching chairs, with placemats and expensive silverware at each seating. And each of these seats held a young man. They all looked up when Rei entered the room, about forty pairs of eyes altogether, and there were audible gasps from some of them. Their faces showed the strain of being held prisoner by a madman, but still their eyes held sympathy for the new arrival. Not one dared move, they all sat with their hands in their laps and their shoulders held rigid. Then, one of the men caught Rei's gaze and urged him to sit in the empty seat beside him. Rei complied, hurrying to sit before C appeared.

As soon as he was sitting down, Rei took a good look at the men surrounding him. They were all stunningly attractive in different ways, although none were as exotic-looking as Rei. Their ages seemed to range between well-preserved forties and early twenties. One of the men, who looked about thirty-two with blonde curls and narrow green eyes, made a sound as if he wanted to say something. The man beside him, a tall fellow with short black hair and brown eyes, shot him a look that said _keep your mouth shut! _The first man ignored it. His soft, nervous voice was just about quiet enough not to echo around the enormous hall.

" How old are you?"

Rei was surprised by the question, but he answered just as quietly.

" Fifteen."

The man shut his eyes tight. Some of the others looked away sadly. Then, everyone straightened in their chairs and focused their eyes far into the distance.

C had entered the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Intoxication

Chapter 5

I can't believe what a great response I'm getting for this fic. I don't think I've ever gotten a review that was longer than thirty words before, even after more than twenty three fics. I'd especially like to thank Lady of Paranoia for her very welcome, incredibly ego-boosting reviews. If you're not careful, I won't be able to get my big head out the door.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The atmosphere in the Ballroom had been tense to start with, but it was both amazing and horrifying how quickly it changed when C made his entrance. All of a sudden the very air in the room became thick, as if a canister of tear gas had been thrown into the room. C polluted the very oxygen they were breathing with his mere presence. Rei's hand fluttered to his throat, for reasons unknown even to himself. He stole a glance at his warden, who was dressed in much the same fashion as he had been on the first day they met. The only difference was that his coat was a different cut and a pale canary yellow. And then C spoke, loudly enough for his voice to echo in the cavernous hall.

" Who was talking?"

It was as if a pin had been pulled out of a grenade. The tension showed in the eyes of the other prisoners, but nobody spoke. They all continued to focus their eyes far into the distance, despite the obvious terror that clouded those same eyes. C circled them like a wolf, waiting to pounce on the first one to show weakness. Rei actually found it perversely fascinating, waiting for the blonde-haired offender to crack. The man did nothing, but the little vein in his forehead was becoming more prominent as the minutes ticked by.

" Now, you all know my rules. And someone has broken one of those rules, which means someone must accept consequences. And if no-one accepts the consequences alone, it means you must all accept the consequences together."

Still the blonde man's eyes were glazed, and the little vein continued throbbing. But Rei noticed the black-haired man was looking increasingly distressed. Was he about to rat the other guy out? C shook his head in a mockery of sadness.

" Well, I'll just have to…"

" It was me."

Every eye in the room turned to Rei, including C's. C himself cleared his throat.

" Rei, explain yourself."

Rei's voice was the same volume as C's, but it didn't carry an echo with it. He made his tone soft and imploring.

" I wanted to ask them a question. I didn't know I wasn't allowed."

C's footsteps clacked unbearably loudly as he made his way to where Rei was seated. He took Rei's chin in his hands and stroked his cheek reverently, before landing a slap on that cheek with all the practiced forcefulness of a professional tennis player. The sound of the blow cracked and echoed through the hall. All the seated men winced, but they didn't change stances.

Rei was shocked that he had been struck, and then he was shocked that he was shocked in the first place. What was he expecting, kudos on being honest? All the same, the ease with which C landed the blow spoke volumes about him. The pain didn't come until five seconds after the palm of his hand had made contact with Rei's face. And when it did, it felt as though the side of his head had been split open. C had obviously had plenty of practice. C's voice lowered to a hiss that was only audible to Rei.

" Don't ever interrupt me again, Rei. It's most irritating."

Then he raised his voice so that the others could hear.

" Now I'll go easy on you, Rei, because you're new here and not completely _au fait _with our rules. I know that you think lying for someone is noble, but believe me it's not. The creature that refuses to come forward is not worthy of your commiseration, and if there's one thing I despise, it's a liar."

Rei cradled his stinging cheek, cursing himself for being so stupid. C was obviously looking for someone to punish, and taking the blame for that someone was robbing C of the satisfaction of the chastisement. All he'd done was make C angry with him.

__

Guess you'll have to learn to keep your big mouth shut, Rei. And when you think about it, that blonde guy deserves it. After all, he's been here longer than you. He knows the rules, if he breaks one of them it's none of your damn business.

Rei's internal voice had a point, but did she have to be so bloody opinionated? And when had that voice achieved a gender? C circled the table, speaking in a manner that would have been soothing if it had been anyone else.

" So, does anyone want to come forward? It's looking more likely that I'll have to punish you all."

Everyone in the room looked on the verge of tears, but still the blonde man made no sound. Then, just as

C reached his seat at the table, the young man with the short black hair started to cry. It was a harsh, choking sound that bounced off the walls and was painful to listen to. Rei imagined he could almost see his captor's smile beneath the mask. C laid his hand on the man's shoulder, and spoke in a mockingly gentle fashion to him.

" James, do you have something to tell me?"

James nodded. The blonde man closed his eyes, so he couldn't see James pointing a violently shaking finger at him. C took his hand of the man's shoulder, and stood beside the blonde.

" Henry, I should have known. How many warnings have you had? I've lost count. Well, I'll have no more of this."

What really amazed Rei about what happened next was that at no point did Henry move from his seat, or attempt to touch C. He burst into a full-on fit of hysterics, sobbing and shrieking interspersed with babbling words of apology and contrition. But he stayed where he was through the frenzy. He didn't even move his hands. C grabbed him by the shoulders, wrenched him from his chair and marched him out of the room, and Henry didn't struggle. When they disappeared into the inky-black hallway, Rei looked at the other men for an indication of what was going to happen. They all refused to meet his gaze. Rei desperately wished he were back in his cell. At least there he was relatively safe.

Moments later, C strode back into the room. Instead of the missing man's shoulders, his hands grasped a leather bound switch. Without missing a beat, he advanced on the still sobbing James and brought the switch down hard on his shoulders. James didn't shout or scream, but he continued crying. Five times the switch came down, then C grasped his chin and tilted James' face towards his own. James stopped crying immediately.

" Don't be a grass, James. You are dismissed to your room. Wash your face before I come to you tonight. It's terribly blotchy."

James got up quickly and walked out without looking back. For the first time, Rei noticed that he was wearing a black tuxedo. In fact, all the men in the room were dressed up to a certain extent. Some wore tuxedos, other wore suits. One or two were clad in formal Indian outfits. None were dressed up to the extent that C was. C himself had gone into the kitchen at this point, and returned with a large soup tureen and a stack of ornate bowls on a wheeled cart. He handed the stack to the man at the end of the table, who took one and passed the stack to the next man. Each man took a bowl, passing by the empty spots where James and Henry had been. Then the soup tureen was passed along, with each man ladling the hot liquid into their bowls without enthusiasm.

When the tureen came down to Rei, he took a generous portion. He was hungrier than he'd thought, and the tomato-based soup smelled delicious. Everyone ate in silence, while C smoked a cigar through the mouthpiece in his mask and watched them eat. When the last man finished, C gestured to him, and right away he gathered up the bowls and the tureen and wheeled them into the kitchen. C stubbed out his cigar and spoke more loudly than usual.

" You're all dismissed. Except for you, Rei."

Rei felt panic loom inside of him, and a few of the men shot him a pitying glance. C had a remote control in his hand, and every few minutes he pressed a button and called out a name. Then the bearer of that name rose and left, until the only people left in the room were Rei and the man holding him prisoner. C rose and beckoned to Rei to follow him, and they exited the ballroom one in front of the other.

The hall they travelled through kept up with the trend of being full of paintings. The next room was just in front of them so the hallway was a relatively small one, but somehow C had managed to turn it into a miniature gallery for as many Bosch paintings as he could fit in the small area. Rei only had time to look at them out of the corner of his eye as he hurried after C. He prayed to every deity he knew of that C wasn't leading him to his bedroom. His prayers were answered.

The room they ended up in was a lounge of sorts, with a large stone fireplace and two old fashioned armchairs beside it. All the thick drapes were closed tight, and the glow from the fire provided the only light. A small end table sat beside the larger of the two chairs, and on the table sat a crystal decanter full of scotch and two glasses. C sat in the larger chair, and made a gesture that indicated to Rei to take the other seat. All Rei wanted to do was turn around and run somewhere, anywhere, just away from the madman in front of him. But something put steel in his spine and he took the offered seat. While C poured scotch into the glasses, Rei noticed that this room, like the others, was full of paintings. However, the room was so dark that he couldn't make them out.

" Aside from that unpleasantness with Henry, I'd say your debut went very well. But I was very disappointed that you attempted to lie to me. I thought you were more intelligent than that."

C offered a glass of scotch to Rei, who was just about to politely refuse when his internal voice spoke up.

__

Drink it, or he'll be insulted and then who knows what he'll do to you. Just drink it slowly, so it doesn't cloud your brain. Everything's gonna be okay, so stop your damn panicking! You're in his sitting room, now if it was his bedroom or boudoir or dungeon then you could worry. But, hell, you could strip and get down on your hands and knees right now and he probably wouldn't do a thing. Take the damn drink, Rei, he's staring!

C chuckled, a surprisingly warm sound. His voice when he spoke again actually sounded benevolent.

" Don't worry that you're underage. That's the rule they make out there. In here, only my rules matter."

Rei accepted the drink with a gracious smile. He took a small sip, which burned his mouth distastefully. C sipped his drink through a straw. Rei felt brave enough to speak.

" Could I ask a question?"

" Yes. Go ahead."

" Who are they?"

C stroked the chin of his mask, and laughed again.

" Are you jealous, my dear?"

" No," Rei answered honestly.

" I am a man who believes in beauty," C began, " and I believe that although it can exist on its own, for anything to become truly perfect, it must be cultivated. All of those men you could describe as beautiful, am I right?"

" Yes." From what Rei had seen, he could agree that looks wise, those men had been above average.

" I tried to cultivate them all, and I failed, so I moved on to the next. Still, I can't bring myself to just turn them out into the wilderness again, and they have their uses. So I keep them here, and provide for them. But they mean little to me now. Now, I will focus all my attention on my new project; you."

The panic that had briefly been quelled inside of Rei rose again with twice the intensity. The small amount of scotch he'd consumed lay like a hot rock at the base of his stomach.

" May I ask another question?"

" Of course."

" Why me?"

C spoke as though he were narrating a wildlife documentary, every word certain and spoken as fact rather than opinion.

" You are exceptionally beautiful, more than any of your predecessors. I detect a spark of intelligence that belies your primitive upbringing, and I believe we have much in common."

Rei felt insulted by the 'primitive upbringing' remark, but it was the thought that he'd have anything in common with a man so obviously crazy really took the biscuit.

" What do you think we have in common?"

C's voice lowered to a almost a whisper.

" I had someone look into your background before I brought you here. I heard about that business with your parents, terrible affair I'm sure. I can certainly sympathise."

Rei closed his eyes tight against the fresh wave of pain that assaulted him. He had worked so hard to put the past behind him, and now he was stuck in a bad situation made worse by fact that the crazy man holding him captive knew all about the trouble his family had. C began to narrate a story in a way that suggested he didn't care if Rei was listening or not.

" Let me tell you about my mother. She was sixteen when she had me, just like your mother. My father met her at a dinner party he threw one night. Now my father had just finished with his fourth wife, the ink on the divorce wasn't even dry, when he saw her. She had just turned fifteen, and she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. Wide green eyes, long blonde curls, like an angel who fell to earth. And my father fell in love with her right away. He spent a full year sending her clothes, jewels, all manner of expensive gifts until finally she agreed to marry him.

Now, the first problem that they had was that, as beautiful as she was, my mother was unbelievably stupid. She'd never read a book in her life, and never looked at a painting with any more than a passing fancy. The only beauty she could understand was in her precious gems and designer outfits. And more importantly, she had no idea how to please a man. My father got bored with her quickly, but she looked so good on his arm that he wouldn't divorce her. He went away and had countless affairs, and left Mother to her own devices.

At this stage, Mother had me. She wasn't the kind of woman who could live without being admired for her physical attributes, and my father had long stopped paying attention to her. So all she had was me."

Rei felt sick. He wondered if he could break the glass and use it to slit his own throat, just to stop C from talking.

" I admired Mother for many years, but soon I tired of her the same way my father had. But it was his fault, you see. If he had spent more time with her, he could have helped her. She could have become more cultured, more refined, but he abandoned her. In a way, it was a blessing when she died."

C drew a shuddering breath when he said those words. Rei tried not to look at him.

" There was potential there, and Father ignored it. Just as there is potential in you, and I will nurture it. And when I am finished, you will be utterly perfect."

C placed his hand on Rei's thigh and stroked the skin through the sheer cloth reverently. Then he took out his remote control, pressed a button, and dismissed Rei.

Rei half-walked, half-ran back through the ballroom, through the hall, to the relative safety of his cell. Once inside, the door slammed shut. He sank down on his bed and tried hard to block out all thoughts of C, his confinement, C's family and his own troubled past.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Kai lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep was impossible without the comforting sound of Rei's soft breathing in the next bed, and every time he closed his eyes the images on the computer screen flashed before his eyes.

Rei was the latest in a line of twenty-three men who had gone missing over a period of four years. The men varied in age and background, but they were all above average in the looks department and had special talents. There was a twenty-five year old pianist, a thirty year old college professor and the list went on. None of the families of the victims knew the cases were connected, the notes said that the investigation had to be kept very confidential. So for four years the police had been lying to the relatives of the missing men. After a month, the case would be shut and then re-opened after another man went missing.

At the very bottom of the folder was a separate file that held information about the fatalities that the case had produced. Three of the men had turned up dead, naked and with evidence of sexual assault on their corpses. Even worse, they were missing limbs. One of the dead men had been a painter. He was found with his arms bound and his hands hacked off at the wrist. One of the others had been conspicuously well-endowed in life, and in death he had been castrated. Kai was trying not to think about the last man, a former karate expert.

Knowing he would never get to sleep, Kai rose and rooted through his possessions for his phone book. He was going to leave the call until the morning, but why wait? He found the number and dialled quickly, wanting to get it over and done with as soon as possible. The phone rang, once, twice, three times, then someone answered. Kai took a deep breath.

" It's me. I need your help."


	6. Chapter 6

Intoxication

Chapter Six

It didn't take Kai long to find the person he was meeting, even in a busy café in the middle of the town. They had agreed to meet in a public place, despite the delicate nature of exactly what they were discussing. However, with the very conspicuous, almost flamboyant appearance of the both of them led to a lot of stares, although none of them lingered. Kai strolled casually to the booth where his acquaintance was sitting, with a piece of pie untouched before him. Kai slid onto the flame-red vinyl seat and greeted the other boy with a nod. The other nodded back, and spoke tersely.

" You wanna tell me why I'm in this tacky purveyor of cheap, nasty food, Kai?"

" That's why, Tala. That patronizing little sentence you just spewed out."

Tala chuckled, an oddly humourless sound. Then he turned serious, and leaned in to speak in hushed tones.

" Okay. What's happened that's led you here?"

Kai was able to keep the emotion out of his voice, but not his eyes. They spoke volumes about how critical the situation was. Kai took a folder out of the rugsack he was carrying. He placed it on the cracked ceramic table but didn't open it.

" Rei's been abducted by a serial rapist and murderer."

Tala took a quick bite of his pie. His voice was solemn.

" Is he still alive?"

" Yes. Or at least, they haven't found his body yet."

" How do you know it's the guy you think? And how do you know he's had others?"

" We hacked into the police files. They're calling it the Borgia case."

Kai passed Tala the file. Tala opened it, and looked down the details of the cheaply printed profile page. He chewed the inside of his cheek and appeared to be deep in thought.

" You said he was a murderer. How many?"

" They're on the next page."

Tala turned the page and read the details of the case. Then he closed the folder and fixed Kai with a hard stare.

" Seems like the police have a pretty detailed file. So what do you need me for."

Kai's voice quavered, just a little.

" They closed the case. Rei's been missing for three days and they closed the fucking case. We won't see him again, unless it's on a slab in the morgue missing body parts. I want him back, Tala. I need you. I need you to tell me what to do."

Tala winced when he heard his old comrade plead. Even though he wasn't exactly fond of Kai, he felt sorry that he had resorted to begging. The Chink must have some sort of effect on him, he mused. He opened the file again.

" I have the other three outside. We might need them."

Swallowing, Kai nodded. He was starting to feel hopeful.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei was starting to understand why solitary confinement was considered a big time punishment. Stuck in his cell with nothing to stare at but the lovely and distressing paintings, he was losing it. He was desperate for the door to open, despite the fact that all he wanted to do the previous night was go back in. He paced back and forth, avoiding eye contact with Europa, who looked self-satisfied on the back of the bull, the nymph, who looked self-pitying, and Io, who looked sickeningly happy. His logical internal voice ceased being logical and started being a goading little bitch. It was definitely a female voice, one that he couldn't place in the small number of females he had come across in his lifetime. For a moment, he thought it might have been his mother. But then, he could only remember the sound of his mother's voice on two occasions, and on neither of those occasions had she sounded like Miss Logic.

__

Keep staring at that wall, Rei. It's not going to disintegrate by the force of your thoughts, much as you want it to. Hoping for a miracle? That's stupid. Those walls have gotta be three feet thick! That door is pure stainless steel. You're stuck here, Rei, like a little piggy in the abattoir. Take the food when he brings it, piggy, fatten up like a good piggy, get nice and plump and tasty, all for the butcher, 'cause he's waiting for you, just for you.

Rei was thinking about taking a good run at the wall with his head down to shut her up for good, when the door beeped three times and then slid open. He was unsure whether to be thankful or apprehensive, and he didn't make a move towards the door.

Suddenly, a voice that could only belong to one person crackled from within his room.

" Rei, make your way down the corridor and through the open door. Don't loiter."

Rei stepped out of his room and walked briskly through the corridor, not stopping to look at the paintings that lined the wall. The open door was soon visible, and there was an almost undetectable scent coming from inside. C was inside, Rei knew. He was terrified of what he would find in there, but he attempted to prepare for the worst and stepped inside.

Unfortunately, Rei's preparations for the worst fell tragically short. The room, sparsely lit with candles on an antique candelabra, was full of equipment that looked like it was surplus from the Spanish Inquisition. There was an Iron Maiden in one corner, a rack over a grate in the centre of the room, a garrotte against a wall, the list went on. And several were stained with unidentifiable fluids. Over near the candelabra, the was a small wooden chair, looking completely out of place in the stone and metal room. And behind it was C, looking at Rei. He wasn't wearing a coat, just the black trousers, frilled shirt and boots. The mask was the same.

" Take your clothes off, Rei. Just leave them there on the floor."

His tone was businesslike, but strangely chilling. For a few moments, Rei didn't move. Then a voice he hadn't heard before, a soft, nervous, _female_ voice full of panic and sorrow.

****

This is it. He's going to rape you now. Then he'll kill you. They're all the same, that's all they want from us. When they don't get it by asking, they take it by force! There's nothing you can do…

Then Miss Logic broke in sternly.

__

Oh, shut up. He's not going to rape you! He wants to fatten you up until you're nice and juicy, Rei. No point in roasting the pig when it's nothing but bones. You're not ready for him yet, he made that clear. Take it off, Rei, take it all off. Shake your ass for him, he won't even blink. And don't be embarrassed, 'cos that's what he wants. You're a hot little number, that's why you're here in the first place. If you'd had anything to be ashamed of, you wouldn't be here. He's not gonna fuck you, Rei. Not yet. But there's no point in getting him mad for refusing just 'cos you're nervous. So get naked.

" Rei?"

C's voice cut through his introspective period. Rei shook his head slightly. C chuckled warmly.

" Your clothes, Rei."

Rei fixed C with an unwavering stare while he undid the sash on his tunic and let it fall to the ground. His hair brushed his shoulders like a damp sheet, and he shivered slightly. He undid the tie on his trousers and let them fall onto the tunic. He was naked in front of C, but not ashamed. He didn't even make an attempt to cover himself. C gazed at him without turning away for what seemed like a long time. At last, he spoke.

" Sit in this chair, Rei."

Rei did so, feeling more comfortable with his nudity with every step. The chair was cold and hard, he would have preferred to stand. C lifted his hair and draped it over the back of the chair, stroking it lovingly. C began to walk in a slow circle around the chair.

" Have you ever heard of Torquemeda, Rei?

" No. It doesn't ring a bell."

" He ran the _auto de fe _in Spain during the Inquisition. He was a master when it came to torture."

The fear that was burning in Rei's stomach intensified.

" You see, he understood that torture was about more than just pain of them body. To really make someone want to confess, even when they hadn't done anything, you have to make them feel shame. The suspects were stripped naked, which worked especially well with young women, then the pain was inflicted."

C picked up a large stick that was lying by Rei's bare feet, and stopped just behind Rei. He gathered up the long ebony locks that cascaded over the back of the chair. Rei felt him caress the hair down the end, fiddle with it, and then a weight was laid upon it. C had tied the stick to his hair.

" There was a particular type of torture they used to use on women in those days. The sign of a loose woman was long, unbound hair, so first they would remove the head coverings of the women to make them ashamed. Then they would be stripped, and a stick, like this one…,"

…C gave the stick a tug for emphasis…

"… would be attached to the hair. Then they asked the questions. For each wrong answer, the stick would be twisted. Sometimes the method would result in the scalp being ripped off, sometimes the neck would be broken. Most of the time, the woman would confess. Do you know why this was so effective, Rei?"

Rei said nothing.

" It was effective because a woman's hair was her crowning glory. It was akin to the genitals back then, for a lover's eyes only. Most women couldn't face losing their crowning glory, even though they were doomed to be burned at the stake if they confessed. So, now, a little test. Do you like it here, Rei?"

Rei's internal voices shouted at the same time, but Rei answered truthfully.

" No."

The stick was turned. There was no pain.

" Do you like me?"

" No."

Another turn. Rei was almost thankful for his long hair. Almost.

" Do you find me sexually attractive?"

" No."

The stick turned. There was a slight tug.

" Do you want to have sex with me?"

" No."

That came out very forcefully. The turn brought a slight pain in the scalp.

" Do you wish to return home?"

" Yes."

Twist. Rei's scalp burned. Both of his internal voices cried for attention. The timid one was begging for a good answer. The logical one was saying stick to the truth, C wouldn't let it go too far.

" Are you going to obey me?"

" Maybe."

That earned him two twists. The pain was almost unbearable. Rei's vision was swimming and tinted red.

" Do you fear me?"

" Yes."

Finally the pressure eased. Rei put his burning head between his knees, regardless of the fact that C was still holding onto his hair. The stick was untied, and C's voice was slightly admiring.

" Very good, Rei. You passed. The others told me what I wanted to hear. You are a smart creature."

C placed his cold hand between Rei's shoulder blades. Rei didn't care.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Although this is my first Beyblade fic, I've been a fan fiction writer for the best part of four years. I came into contact with a lot of people who were fantastically talented writers themselves, professional standard, but who never wrote anything commercial in their lives. I'm amazed by the reviews I'm getting that say they're not used to highly descriptive writing in a fan fiction, and that is really tragic. The only difference between professional writing and fan fiction is that the readers are already somewhat familiar with the characters. Anyone who has a talent for writing and an idea shouldn't hold back from expressing it. It's done purely for fun and not for profit (except for my review addiction) but that's not to say that a lot of effort shouldn't be put into it or isn't put into it. Why shouldn't fan fiction be high concept?

Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for their reviews, in particular shinigami tenshi for her paragraph review. I love reviews so much I'm writing this chapter three days before I even planned on starting! Reviews are better than coffee, or rum-laced tea since I'm Irish.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

" Do you have the tape?"

Kai handed the surveillance tape to Ian reluctantly. Although he'd been the one to ask the Demolition boys for help, it didn't mean he trusted them. Would they really be able to treat the incident as seriously as Rei's team mates had to? Takao and Max were very unhappy about the whole arrangement, so much so that they had wanted to leave the hotel before the other team got there. Kai only just managed to convince them that they would be able to help.

It was a requirement of students at Biovolt's Abbey to study not just Beyblading and physiology, but also psychology, all facets of human behaviour. The aim was to make the players able to look into the minds of their opponents and be able to gauge their abilities on that. It rarely worked in battle, since the players so often became caught up in the game. However, it left the students with minds that were constantly analysing the conduct of the people around them. They were more talented than most criminal psychologists. Kai hadn't been at the Abbey long enough to develop this ability, but the rest of the demolition boys had.

They and the remainder of the Bladebreakers were sitting in their new hotel room, equipped with a rented VCR and the tape Kai had stolen from the previous hotel, watching the various people on the tape walk back and forth. For a long time, everyone was silent. Then, suddenly, Brian paused the tape and pointed to the figure on screen.

" It's that guy."

He was pointing at a man, dressed all in black and dragging a large suitcase after him. Rei was nowhere near him. Takao hadn't been looking at the screen, but when he heard Brian speak he turned around.

" How do you know?"

" Look at the way he's dressed. Generally when people don't want to be noticed they wear a lot of black. What they don't realise is that it attracts more attention than the person would have normally."

" All right. So where's Rei? Hidden under that trench coat?"

Ian stood up, strolled over to the television screen, and placed his finger on the image of the suitcase the man in black was dragging behind him.

" He's in there."

Takao laughed at that, although it was a strangely bitter sound. Maybe it was a big suitcase, but it couldn't fit a human in it! Brian nodded and voiced his agreement to Ian's statement.

" Definitely. Rei's what, five foot four? He's on the thin side and fairly limber, if he was drugged that guy would have no problem stuffing him in there."

Takao took a good look at the suitcase. Maybe he was right… Kai spoke.

" That doesn't help us, though. We can't see his face."

" Relax, Kai. We know something about him. First off, he's not smart enough to apply lateral thinking, so he'll be easier to find than you think. He'll go so far to hide away from the world he should be easy to find. If he was hiding in a block of flats we'd be in trouble."

Brian got up from his seat on the bed and walked over to the table, and then opened the folder. Then he took out a notebook and started writing.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

After the night in the torture chamber, Rei wasn't visited by C for several days. The only way Rei was keeping track of the days was through the meals that appeared three times. Once a third arrived through the slot in the door, he figured a new day had started. Three days came and went, and then Rei stopped counting.

His two internal voices, Miss Logic and Worry Wart chattered constantly in his waking moments, and Rei slept so much, just to use up his time, that he was never quite sure of the difference between his dream-filled slumber and his hallucinogenic awareness. More than four days may have passed, or maybe not. Rei had no idea.

After a while, the two internal voices were joined by a third. Another female, she didn't badger Rei the way Miss Logic did, or whine like Worry Wart. In fact, she rarely spoke at all, just every now and then to offer him bad advice. Most of her advice seemed to involve shutting off his brain and fading away.

Rei slept fourteen hours at a stretch, rose to eat, took baths within an hour of each other, ( taking great care not to look in the mirrors) and spent long hours staring at the walls. He thought the boredom was going to kill him.

__

Well, there's a few ways to resolve that feeling, Rei. If you go over there and bang your head off of the wall. Knock yourself unconscious.

****

Don't do anything stupid! If you mark your face, he'll punish you again!

Kill yourself. It's the only way out of this forever. Even if you escape, you'll never be able to forget.

The voices jabbered away, arguing with each other, while Rei tried to tune them out. Banging his head off of the wall was starting to seem like a good idea…

…when the three beeps sounded and the door opened. Rei didn't hesitate to step outside. His muscles were stiff and sore from lack of use. The smell emanating from down the hall told him that a supper like the one where there had been all that trouble had been arranged. He was afraid of another incident like the last one, but he was hungry too. The food that came through the door was expensive but served in very small amounts.

The ballroom was set up the same way it had been before, and Rei took the seat he had taken at the first supper. He noted the empty seat beside James, the dark haired man who ratted out the previous occupant of that seat. He noted that James was sitting awkwardly forward, not allowing his back to come into contact with the back of the chair. His head was so far down it was almost in his lap. C entered, nobody said a word. The food was served by one of the men, a slight slender fellow with pale brown hair and nervous eyes. It was pasta with a white wine sauce, not enough to really fill anyone up. Everyone ate, the table was cleared, Rei thought the evening would end without incident. He was wrong.

C spoke quietly to one of the guys beside him, a tall man with white blonde hair wearing a full tuxedo. Then he addressed the room.

" Stephen here is going to honour us with some after-dinner music. Rise, Stephen."

Stephen stood, and for a few moments it looked like he was too scared. But just when everyone in the room was starting to worry for him, the man opened his mouth and began to sing in a beautiful tenor that disguised his fear. The song soared and washed over the vast walls of the ballroom, then crashed into Rei's ears and penetrated the very core of him. Rei felt tears slipping down his cheeks, for although the song was beautiful it was also unbelievably painful to listen to, like hearing a child cry in a locked room. Rei's entire body shook with the force of his sobs, and as much as he tried he couldn't control them.

As soon as the singing was finished, C dismissed everyone except for Rei, who was still crying uncontrollably. C pulled his seat over behind Rei's, and waited until the sobs stopped. Then he took a silk handkerchief out of his front pocket and wiped away Rei's tears. Rei drew several shuddering breaths before C spoke.

" Did the music move you to tears, Rei?"

" Yes, and no."

" An ambiguous answer. Dare I ask?"

" It brings back a memory."

" So it wasn't just the music, then. I'm disappointed, but intrigued. May I ask what memories 'Ave Maria' bring that could wrench such emotion from you?"

" My mother used to sing 'Ave Maria.'

" I see. A soprano, was she?"

"…"

" Tell me about your mother, Rei."

" I don't know enough about her to tell anyone anything."

" Tell me what you know."

__

And why not, Rei? You've always had trouble telling people you trust, people you like, people you respect? How about someone you hate? What's the worst that could happen?"

" She used to sing two Aves. One for when she was happy, and one for when she was sad."

" And the sad one was the Caccini, I assume."

" I don't know the names. She died."

" How old were you when she died?"

" Two."

" And you still remember the songs? You know, I sourced you out before I brought you here. The people of your village were reluctant to tell me about her."

" They didn't like her."

" I see. Was she a loose woman, Rei. Did she have other men?"

" No. She loved my father."

" Why did they dislike her, Rei?"

" She wasn't one of them. She was a foreigner. That's what killed her."

" So she seduced away one of their best men with her exotic charms. That must have made you unpopular, given that you look so much like her."

" I survived."

" I know. How did your father react to her death? Losing such a lovely creature, it must have hit him very hard."

" It did. He didn't cope well."

" And with you around, looking so much like her. Did he try to get closer to you, Rei? Did he treat you in a manner unsuitable for a son to be treated by his father?"

" No. He loved me as much as he loved her."

"How did she die? Did he kill her in a fit of passion?"

" No. She got very sick and faded away. She was never meant to be there."

Rei began to sob again. When he stopped, C dismissed him. But just before he walked out the door, C asked one last question.

" What was her name, Rei?"

" Isabella."

Rei left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Intoxication

Chapter 8

The reviews just keep pouring in, I'm amazed. I've never gotten such a reaction to a fic before. I wonder if it's because of fanfiction.net's easy review system. I was thinking of removing all my stuff from the site, especially since they said they'd remove the accounts of people who put the wrong rating on their fics. What a bunch of bloody Nazis! (Please don't tell them I said that!) I still haven't quite forgiven them for making me lose one of my favourite fics when they established the anti-NC17 rule. Okay, enough bitching, on with the show!

P.S: To black demon wolf, there is absolutely no need to check the site twice a day to see if I've updated. Now that's what I call devotion! But as much as I'd like to bask in such adoration, I remember the pain of waiting to see when an author would or wouldn't update. I write the Chapters on Thursday nights while watching Oz with a cup of tea, and usually post that night or Friday morning. I started early tonight, though!

P.P.S: The song Io's singing is _Suzanne _by Leonard Cohen. As to why she's singing it, I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The time Rei spent sequestered in his cell passed by in a haze. Night and day ceased to exist, only the moments of inactivity between eating and sleeping. During these moments, Rei's voices would jabber back and forth incessantly to each other and to themselves. With the trio of opposing voices and his extreme isolation, in was only a matter of time before the voices took on physical manifestations. It was the forms that they took that really surprised him.

Miss Logic, the bitchy opinionated harridan of the three, appeared as Europa form the portrait of Europa and the bull on the wall. She was pretty in a classical sense, with a swarthy complexion and a figure that was on the plump side. Most of the time her thin lips were curled into a sneer, and her eyes were slanted and angry-looking. She was clothed in a robe that she rarely adjusted so that it often fell open and exposed her breasts. She never seemed too concerned by this, sometimes it was hard to tell if her immodest conduct really was accidental. She spent most of her time perched on the bed beside Rei, in a lounging position.

Worry-Wart, the hysterical, timid little girl, appeared as the nymph who had managed to escape the unwanted advances of the winged youth by dropping into Rei's cell and perching on the shelf where his food appeared. The barely-there piece of cloth she had possessed in the painting was still clutched to her nude body, but although it disguised nothing it seemed like just the attempt to cover herself preserved her virtue better than the robes that Europa wore and disregarded. There was nothing sensual about the nymph, her very appearance suggested that she was a girl to be protected, not accosted. She was unbelievably pale, everything from her white-blonde hair to her watery blue eyes made her look bloodless, two-dimensional. She spoke in a high-pitched whisper about how helpless they were and how much better it would be if Rei gave in to his captor. Europa despised her, and she despised Europa.

The third girl, the Enigma, appeared as Io from the painting of the girl being seduced by a wisp of cloud. She was a strange creature, possessed of a child's face with a constant smile on a woman's well-endowed body. She was naked and indifferent to this fact, she liked to sit with her legs crossed on the end of the bed with one hand fondling her honey-blonde curls and the other drawing patterns in the sheets. She spoke in nonsensical riddles and sang constantly, only talking sense on rare occasions when what she said was useless. She ignored the other two, and they ignored her in return.

C hadn't approached Rei since the last ballroom incident, and since then the very thing that he had been trying to bury at the back of his mind became the only thing he could think about, and the only thing the girls could talk about. After Europa and the nymph finally fell silent, Io sat on the edge of the bed singing softly to herself in her birdlike twitter.

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river,

You can hear the boats go by, you can spend the night beside her,

And you know that she's half-crazy, but that's why you want to be there,

And she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China,

And just when you mean to tell her that you have no love to give her,

Then she gets you on her wavelength and she lets the river answer that you've always been her lover.

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind

And you know that she will trust you, for you've touched her perfect body

With your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor, when he walked upon the water,

And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower,

And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him

He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them,

But he himself was broken, long before the sky would open,

Forsaken, almost human,

He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone.

And you wanted to travel with him, and you want to travel blind,

And you think maybe you'll trust him, for he's touched your perfect body

With his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand and she leads you to the river,

She is wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counter,

And the sun pours down like honey on our lady of the harbour,

And she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers,

There are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning,

They are leaning out for love, they will lean that way forever

While Suzanne holds the mirror.

And you want to travel with her, and you want to travel blind,

And you know that you can trust her, for she's touched your perfect body

With her mind."

Europa, who could never hold her tongue for very long, began to fuss again.

__

It's finally happening, Rei. You're losing your mind. Not that you were holding together brilliantly to start with, but it's never been this serious before, has it? And you know who's to blame. You never had a chance. Not with her blood running through your veins.

" It wasn't her fault," Rei protested weakly, " she didn't ask to be born any more than I did." The nymph

spoke quietly but sharply to Europa.

****

Of course it wasn't her fault, any more than it's Rei's fault the situation he's in now! It's just what happens when you're beautiful. It's them, out there, that make it this way. There's only desire or envy, always anger, no room for love or friendship. If they can't get it willingly, they take it by force, and then condemn you for being what you are. To be beautiful is a blessing, but it brings suffering. Your mother suffered for her beauty and so will you!

__

I hate to admit it, but she's right. Because you are what you are, no one will ever feel sorry for you, sympathise with you, want to help you in any way unless it brings some sort of gratification to themselves. And you know this, even if you tried to escape it. Remember?

" Stop." Rei felt tears burning his eyes. " I don't want to think about that."

__

Deny it all you want, but you know it's true. I'm amazed you can still talk to Lee after what happened. All those disgusting things he called you, the things he accused you of…"

" Stop it!"

__

…over a Bit Beast! A lifetime of trust you placed in him, all lost, because he believed the only way you could get Drigger was by seducing his grandfather! And remember what they used to say about your mother…

" No! No more, please!"

__

It's always going to be this way, Rei. You can choose to ignore it, but you'll only wind up getting hurt, time and time again. It's never really worked, has it? Putting your trust in someone, then finding out what they really want. The villagers hated your mother, their children only liked you because of what their mothers told them about her…

" Please…"

__

…and Lee seemed so nice, too. But he must have thought of you that way for a long time. He called you a whore, a harlot. And you were only thirteen! Is it any wonder you ran away? How do you think your mother ended up in that village? Something drove her into your father's arms!

Rei was sobbing in earnest now. Things that he had forced himself to ignore were surging forward like vomit, the pain was unbearable. The voices waited until his tears subsided before the nymph spoke gently, soothingly. But her words burned like acid.

****

It's always going to be that way, Rei. Out there, you're just a pretty face. I bet there's people out there, people you know, who believe you deserve to be here. That looking the way you do, you're asking for it. No-one's going to take this seriously. Stay here, Rei. What you want is to be accepted, and he accepts you. He can protect you from what's out there, and he loves you, in his own way. Give in, do what he wants. It can't be any worse than what's out there.

Europa gave a snort of derision.

__

That's bullshit! Let him rape you just so you don't have to face anyone else wanting to get into your pants? Newsflash, people are naturally lusty. If you're even mildly attractive to someone the first thing on their minds will be sex. You're a cutie-pie, Rei, but that doesn't mean than everyone who's attracted to you thinks you're a slut. So you grew up in a small town full of people who didn't take a little splash in the gene pool very well. It's a big-ass world out there, if you search long enough and far enough you'll find someone who might care about you.

Io trilled something about birds and roses, then went quiet again. Her big blue eyes bored into Rei's watery amber ones, and her rosebud mouth curled into a smile. The girls vanished from sight but their voices remained when the door opened. C waited in the hall to escort him, but he held Rei back before he could leave.

" Wash you face, Rei. Crying does terrible things to your complexion."

Rei did as he was told sedately, without enthusiasm. And then C brought him to his study, where the subject of his mother had come up before. Rei was pressed into his seat and given a glass of scotch, which he sipped gingerly. C took the other seat and swirled his drink before talking.

" I have something for you, Rei."

He took out a bundle of sheets from behind the chair and pressed them into Rei's hands. And for a few minutes, all Rei could do was stare at them.

" Sheet music…?"

" For the cello. I think you may have some musical talent. Your lessons will begin in two days, and I expect you to have those notes memorized before we begin."

Rei leafed through the pages when the name of a song caught his eye.

"La Forzi Del Destino…"

" Puccini. Italian. I thought it rather fitting. We both have Italian blood running through our veins. My father could trace his lineage right back to the Borgia family, although that's something few people would admit to. And your mother was from an old family too, wasn't she? We could even be cousins."

This was the first unselfish act Rei could remember experiencing in his short life. He couldn't help feeling grateful.

" Thank you," he whispered.

" Thank you, Cesare. My name is Cesare. And that is what you shall call me, _bella."_

Cesare laid his hand on Rei's head. And Rei leaned into the touch.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The sites popped up, one after the other, each more filthy than the last. Kai winced with disgust, Tala and Bryan didn't so much as blink. They were researching fetish sites, and Kai didn't quite know why.

" Why are we doing this?"

" The guy we're looking for is a fetishist," said Bryan. " He's a guy that's gotten so carried away with his fantasies that he lost touch with reality and broke the rules. What we're looking for is a regular of these sites who suddenly stopped logging on about four years ago. That was when he experienced the fantasy in real life."

" Well, if he's a fetishist what does he want with Rei?"

Tala and Bryan laughed at that, but stopped abruptly when they saw Kai wasn't.

" You are joking, right?" said Tala incredulously.

" No. What?"

" Fetishists tend to feel sexual attraction for individual body parts that are unusual. This guy doesn't limit himself to just one fetish, but found only single parts to admire in his other victims. Rei, however," Tala sighed before continuing, " he's a fetishist's dream. Small hands and feet, long black hair, unusual eye colour, it's a wonder something like this never happened before."

Bryan tugged at his sleeve. He had something.

" Take a look at this guy. He spent up to a month at a time on some of these sites, suddenly disappeared three years ago. His handle is Renaissance man."

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Ooh. Getting warmer! OZ ROCKS!


	9. Chapter 9

Intoxication

Chapter Nine

Since I'm not going to be here on Thursday, I started this Chapter early. I'm feeling a little hasty now, since I know how it ends and I want it out there. Plus I know there's gonna be a sequel, and I'd like to start it as soon as possible. Please keep those reviews coming in, I treasure each and every one of them.

Just in case you want to heighten the reading experience, the music featured in this Chapter is from 'La Forzi Del Destino' which is by Verdi, not Puccini as I claimed in the last chapter. It's heavily featured on the 'Jean De Florette' soundtrack, and the Stella Artois ads.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The sound of Takao's bones cracking as he stretched woke Kai from his half-sleep and alerted him to just how late it was. Brian had been on the computer since five o clock in the afternoon. At around nine Spencer and Max left the hotel room for pizza, which everyone was grateful for. At ten they finished eating, Max, Spencer and Ian went to get some much needed sleep. The other five boys (they needed Kenny to navigate through the net) stayed awake in case they ran into a breakthrough.

For a long time, there was only silence. Brian surfed the net with Kenny's help. Tala leafed through the evidence. Takao was half-asleep and doing nothing, but he already insisted he had to be alert as long as Rei was missing. Kai wasn't doing anything either, and like Takao he felt he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he wanted to. But these waking, idle moments gave him time to reflect on why he was so upset over this whole incident.

First and foremost, Rei was his friend, whatever that meant. He had agonized for a long time over the very nature of this friendship his team mates were so insistent about, and hadn't been able to come to any sort of a conclusion. But this had knocked him for six. Sure, if Max or Takao or Kenny had gone missing he'd be upset. If Takao had been run over by some drunk driver, if Max had been shot by some psycho, if Kenny had been murdered by a burglar, he'd go to their funerals, even shed a few tears. But this was different. Why?

Maybe it was because he didn't know if Rei was alive or dead. Maybe it was because if Rei was alive he was frightened and in terrible pain and all alone. Maybe it was because if he was dead he could be lying in a ditch somewhere, violated, missing limbs and decomposed. Maybe it was because it was a rapist Rei was being held by, and he couldn't imagine what that could be like. He wondered, if they even found Rei, would he have the will to live after going through such an ordeal? Maybe he felt so bad about this because Rei was just the kind of person that carried an air of melancholy around him, even when he seemed happy. Kai had noticed this about Rei, although he never paid any attention until Rei went missing. And then, he saw in retrospect how Rei dodged questions about certain subjects, how he never smiled without an almost imperceptible glimmer of sadness in his eyes, how he insisted on being friendly with everyone but never got too close.

And now that Rei was gone, Kai found himself thinking of his team mate in ways he'd never thought of anyone before. He recalled insignificant things, like how different Rei looked sleeping as opposed to awake, how he smelled after getting out of the shower, his expression when he was deep in thought, they played in Kai's mind like a video. While they sat around getting information in dribs and drabs, all Kai wanted to do was find Rei, get to him and comfort him. That was something he couldn't have done for anyone else.

A call from Brian brought all the boys out of their introspective moments, and they hurried to look at the computer screen. A sheet full of numbers was displayed.

" We got Renaissance Man's Credit Card bills," declared Kenny proudly.

Since they found the handle of a man who disappeared from the fetish sites a year after the men started going missing, they had made him their prime suspect. Most of the sites required passwords that could be purchased online with a credit card from a sister site. Renaissance Man had bought hundreds of passwords on several different cards, so he had to be independently wealthy and possessed of a lot of free time. The cards were signed in different names, so Brian and Kenny had spent hours trying to trace the names to something tangible. And it looked like they finally had.

" Surprise, Surprise," Brian muttered, " Grayson Daly's on every card."

" What does that mean?" asked Takao.

" Grayson Daly is a shoe designer. He never makes any more than a hundred of any design, and they cost a solid fortune. For someone with a foot fetish, owning just one pair is an achievement. This guy has at least two hundred."

" He has to be using one of these cards for something other than shoes and passwords," said Kenny with more enthusiasm than any of them had been able to muster all day, " Once we can link it to an address we're home free."

Kai felt a ton weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. The rest could be lifted off when he saw Rei again.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Europa, Io and the nymph had stayed quiet while Rei was learning the musical notes. Perhaps they understood that the test could very well mean the difference between life and death. Or perhaps they saw it the way Rei did, that they had nothing better to do so they might as well focus on the task at hand. Either way, Rei learned the notes in almost perfect silence.

The day of the test, even Rei had to admit he'd put some effort into his appearance. He washed his body and face with something like enthusiasm, brushed his hair out until it shone like silk, he even sat rather than lay on the bed to avoid rumpling his clothes. He knew he wasn't excited, but at the very least he was intrigued as to what would happen next. He felt his heart leap into his throat when the three beeps sounded and the door swung open.

Cesare wasn't there, but the way was lit with the arrangement of lamps in the hallway. Rei followed the lamps, ignoring the dark hallways and not taking the time to look at the paintings on every wall he passed. He arrived at the room, the only one with a light on and an open door, but even without these hints he knew Cesare was inside. He could almost smell him.

The room was another enormous ballroom, with marble floors that froze Rei's bare feet and a high domed ceiling. There was only one piece of furniture, a small wooden stool that Cesare stood by. The cello case lay beside the stool like an old dog. Cesare beckoned to Rei, and Rei stepped daintily across the cold floor.

" Rei," Cesare greeted him warmly, but not pleasantly, " have a seat."

Rei sat on the stool, and expected Cesare to open the case so they could begin. He didn't, and it was only then that Rei noticed a thick piece of wood lying beside the cello case. He felt panic well up inside of him as Europa began to speak.

__

And you thought things were getting better, Rei? Ha! He's a fucking psycho! You knew that and you still let yourself have hope! That's your problem, Rei, you think the best of these situations and then you're surprised when you get let down. How stupid can you get?

Cesare picked up the piece of wood while Rei eyeballed it. His voice was as cold as the marble floor.

" Take off your shirt, Rei. You can leave the trousers on."

Rei's hands shook as he pulled at the sash holding his shirt on. The shirt slipped to the floor with a soft hiss. Cesare went behind him and gathered up his hair in both hands, twisted it into a crude braid, and slipped it down the front of his body. Rei's back was completely exposed, he gave an involuntary shiver. Cesare ran his fingers down his captive's spine lovingly.

" Open the case, Rei."

The clasps snapped as Rei opened them, and the scent of varnish that spilled out was sweet compared to Cesare's poisonous odour. Cesare slapped the wood lightly into the palm of his hand.

" Take it out."

The cello was smooth as glass under Rei's fingers, but he felt uncomfortable holding it, like a little girl in her mother's shoes. He felt Cesare's hands caress his naked shoulders, and then a gloved hand touched the spine of the instrument where a small groove had been cut.

" Hold down the strings at these grooves to moderate the pitch of the note. Otherwise, play the note as it is. Test the notes."

Rei drew the bow across the strings, sounding out each note and identifying them as they related to the sheets he memorized. Cesare squeezed his shoulder gently to make him stop.

" And now you will play the song."

Rei couldn't believe his ears. Cesare expected him to play perfectly after just getting the instrument?

" But…"

" Pain," Cesare interrupted loudly, " has been outlawed as a method of teaching humans. We still use it to teach dogs, horses livestock, but when used on humans it's considered cruel. But I find that it's the best way to instruct a creature, _any _creature, when you want great results, and fast. So here's what we'll do…"

He ran his hands across Rei's back, a little forcefully.

" Every inch of this flesh is covered with tiny nerve endings. When there's a disturbance, those nerves send a message to the brain to say that something's not right. Now, when a large, blunt object such as the one I'm holding," he slapped the stick again for emphasis, " is used on these nerve endings, it doesn't tear the skin or cause bleeding, but every one of those nerves in the path of the strike is not only damaged, but crushed. It's nerve genocide."

Rei was shaking visibly now. If Cesare noticed he said nothing.

" There will be a welt, then a bruise, but in a month there won't be any sign of a disturbance. I wouldn't do anything to damage you permanently. So now you shall play the music, and for every wrong note, I shall use this on you. So play well."

There was silence. Rei picked up the bow and hesitated, trying to delay the performance. Then he sensed Cesare's growing impatience and began.

For a few moments, things went well. Rei recalled the notes and where they lay on the instrument. The music was slow and melancholy, and he allowed himself to drift with the melody. Until his finger slipped and hit the wrong note.

__

Crack!

Cesare brought the wood down hard on Rei's back. The three vertebrae that had been in the path of the wood felt as though they had been set on fire, and there was a feeling of gushing fluid in the surrounding muscle. Rei took deep gulps of air to calm the sting in his lungs.

" Start again," hissed Cesare.

Rei picked up the bow and started again. His hands were shaking, he didn't even get as far as he had the first time. He hit two notes at the one time.

__

Crack!

Six vertebrae were on fire now, and the gushing feeling covered a quarter of his back. He started again. He played five right notes before he made another mistake.

__

Crack!

It was when Rei was recovering from the third blow that Europa began speaking perfect sense.

__

He doesn't want you to get this right, Rei. He wants you to screw it up so he can punish you. He gets a kick out of it. He'll probably jerk off thinking of your feeble attempts to please him tonight. And do you know what? The pain isn't really the worst thing. It's waiting for the pain! He knows this, that's why he's making you do this. He knows you can't do it! So drop the bow and take the hit. Can't be any worse than what you've already got. Take the hit, Rei. Don't give him the satisfaction and stop torturing yourself. Take the hit. Drop the bow and take the hit. Consequences be damned. Take the hit.

Rei threw down the bow and focused his gaze into the distance. The cello dropped from his grasp as the blows rained down on his back, again and again and again. The wood broke in half after the seventh blow, and still Cesare kept beating. The pain faded slightly as Rei's vision swam, and the last thing he saw was the ground rushing up to meet him.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

When Rei woke up, he was back in his cell, naked under the sheets of the bed. The muscles of his back burned as he moved, even breathing was difficult. His shoulder was set at an awkward angle, so much so that Rei believed it was broken. All the same, his small act of defiance made him feel it was worth it.


	10. Chapter 10

Intoxication

Chapter Ten

Okay, in my last author's note I mentioned a sequel I was planning. Of the few responses I got to this news only one was negative, and when I say negative it was only a touch uneasy. But I like to respond to things like this, so to Mirai Shinranui who has given me two very nice reviews (and I'm a fan of your work too) I say take heart! If there's one thing I know how to do it's write a sequel. In fact, I was gonna write the sequel before I even thought of Intoxication. And isn't fan fiction writing a way of producing sequels? Chill, girl!

By the way, the music featured here is Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. The translation is literally the prayer Hail Mary. If you want to hear a really excellent version of this piece, make sure the singer is Maria Callas, Sarah Brightman or Bryn Terfel. This is a short Chapter, but I just got back from Dublin and I'm bloody tired.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

__

…Ave Maria  
Gratia plena  
Maria, gratia plena  
Maria, gratia plena  
Ave, ave dominus  
Dominus tecum  
Benedicta tu in mulieribus  
Et benedictus  
Et benedictus fructus ventris  
Ventris tui, Jesus  
Ave Maria, gratia plena…

Rei's voice was weak and raspy, a pale imitation of the voice he remembered when he recalled the song. His mother's voice always soared when she sang, threatening to break through her fragile body with the sheer force of the sound. Rei had inherited many things from her, but her singing voice wasn't one of them. But still, lying on the bed with nowhere to go and nothing to do it didn't make a difference. The song helped keep the voices of the girls quiet, and dulled the pain in his shoulder.

The beating Rei had taken two days previously had left him incapacitated and in tremendous pain. There was a sharp tearing feeling in his back whenever he moved more than an inch, and he knew there was something seriously wrong with his shoulder. Maybe it was broken, or at least dislocated. Since he hadn't been able to move, he hadn't eaten in two days. His vision was starting to blur ever so slightly, even if he had eaten it would have happened sooner or later. He didn't get enough food to keep him nourished, and he couldn't tell if it was deliberate or just carelessness on Cesare's behalf.

Finally, Rei's throat gave out and he had to stop singing. As soon as he did, the nymph began talking. She sounded less virginal, less innocent than usual, and more like a vindictive schoolmarm.

Had to rock the boat, didn't you? You've only got yourself to blame for your current situation. Drop the bow, for God's sake, have you no sense? You knew what he wanted, Rei! All you had to do was give it to him, but you've never liked that, have you? Show 'em everything you got but don't let him have anything. You're a fucking tease, always have been.

" I'm not," whispered Rei.

****

Yes, you are! You go out of your way to draw people to you, then you run away when they get too close for comfort. And now it's backfired because you've got no place to run.

Rei felt hot tears sting his eyes. " That's not true," he whispered again.

****

It is, and you know it. Is there anyone who hasn't fallen in love with you? Mariah made no secret of it, Kevin had that phase where he couldn't stop blushing around you, Gary told you he liked you at that festival. And Lee, well, that was always more about lust wasn't it. And you loved every minute of it, admit it. You loved having him mentally undress you, his eyes all over you, imagining what it would be like to touch you, get inside you… but you never let him get that far. No wonder he was pissed off with you. He thought everyone was getting a piece of you but him, and he wanted a piece sooo bad…

" Shut up! It's not true," whispered Rei, " I thought he liked me. I didn't know…"

Europa spoke up loudly, drowning out the nymph's insidious mutterings.

__

Keep your goddamn mouth shut! How can a ten year old boy enjoy sexual attention directed at him when he barely understands the concept? It was never your fault, Rei. Lee is two years older than you, there's a world of difference between a ten year old and a twelve year old. And don't forget that you have things they want, things they lust after, and that wasn't your fault either. You were always different, you had a beauty and grace that doesn't seem natural. And they always want what they can't have. The cello incident, you did the right thing. If you hadn't you could be on your hands and knees right now screaming bloody murder. Better to suffer a little pain than a lot of humiliation, right? You're still a virgin, Rei, but you may not be for much longer. You need to take evasive action.

Rei sat up, even though it hurt like hell. Acidic liquid ran through his muscles, but it faded quickly. Evasive action. What could he do? Then, like a bolt of lightning, he had an epiphany. He bolted off of the bed, ignoring the fresh wave of pain that attacked his upper torso. The bathroom that shined a dull light through a thousand mirrors contained one glimmer of actual self-sustaining illumination.

Rei's Beyblade, Drigger, sat on the side of the bathtub. He had been holding it the night he'd been kidnapped and hadn't let it go. It was a miracle Cesare hadn't noticed it. Rei picked her up gently, lovingly, and she glimmered lightly in response. Drigger was the one thing Rei had learned to rely on over the years of being let down by everyone else. She sympathised with him, and felt a great loyalty to him. They were equals, alike in mind and spirit. She had left him on more than one occasion to seek out an answer to a question she had asked herself, and he felt no animosity towards her for this. And now, Rei's most faithful ally was the only one with a chance at helping him. He carried her to the bed and began to think.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

" How fucking long is this going to take?!?"

Three months, six days and three hours since Rei had disappeared, Kai finally lost it. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was coming to terms with how he felt about Rei. He had lusted after the Chinese boy abstractly, as a passing fancy. Most people had done likewise, even Max had a mild crush on his beautiful team mate. Rei had that effect on most people, even complete strangers. But what Kai felt was different. Having Rei missing was like missing a limb. Kai kept expecting to see him turn a corner, wake up in his bed or turn up for a training session.

And there was more. Kai's dreams were becoming increasingly sexual in nature. He ran across a desert and fell into Rei's lap, which soothed him like cool water. He broke a mountain in half, to find Rei lying naked beneath it. He found Rei underneath a tree, and helped untangle his long black hair from the branches. Then Kai would wake, feverish and craving contact with someone who was missing in more ways than one. He vowed that once they found him, he would attempt to pursue a relationship with Rei.

Maybe that was why he was so eager to speed things up. He was becoming increasingly frustrated with the slow pace that the other boys were moving at. Bryan, Kenny and Tala were checking every payslip, every Visa bill, every business transaction, just plain everything. Kai couldn't understand why it was taking so long. It was understandable that he would crack.

After his outburst, the other boys stared at him. It wasn't like Kai to show so much emotion, and it was already a tense situation. His anger spread through the room like an infection, and caused an emotive reaction within the little group. Max began to cry, Takao kicked over a chair, Kenny's head dropped into his chest, Bryan set his jaw in a grim line, Ian and Spencer only looked up momentarily from the files they were studying. Kai stood like a bronze statue, fury written all over his face and breathing heavily from the force of his outburst. No one moved an inch, until Tala gave a deep sigh and strode forward. He grabbed Kai's arm and pulled him into the hallway.

" So, you wanna tell me what that was about?"

Tala's azure eyes searched Kai's face, and Kai felt as though he could see inside him. He brushed a lock of hair away from his eyes and sighed deeply.

" I know it was stupid, but Rei's been missing for three months now! I can't help feeling frustrated."

" I know. But we're going as fast as we can."

" As fast as you can? You're checking sales receipts! How hard is it to find a guy who's keeping twenty full-grown men captive?"

Kai was beginning to shout, so Tala grabbed his arm and spoke frankly to him.

" We are taking our time so we don't waste time, Kai. We need to trace this guy very carefully. All the evidence has to match, all the details have to be certain. So we check everything twice and we leave no stone unturned. Because if we miss anything, if we get even one little detail wrong, it could send us in completely the wrong direction. And if that happens, we lose three months of research, we take another three to get ourselves back on track, and meanwhile Rei's going through God knows what."

Kai sighed again. He knew Tala was right, but he just felt so _helpless…_

" I know how you feel about Rei. So I accept that this is harder on you than it is on them…"

Kai looked up sharply. How did he…?

" I knew when you came to me that you were in love with him. I've met Rei, remember? He's one of those people that everyone falls for. I knew if you were going to fall for anyone, it would be him."

He felt somehow comforted by this. But before they went back inside, Tala turned and said something that made his blood run cold.

" Just keeep in mind, though. When we find Rei…and we will find him… remember what he's been through over the last few months. He may never be able to get close to anyone again. He may not even have the will to live after such an ordeal.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

And there it was. The little book, sitting on the table like a rat, staring up at him. Rei picked it up, leafed through the dusty pages, and put it back down. It was probably an antique. He picked it up again, opened a page and read a few lines of the poem.

__

For who would lose, though full of pain,

This intellectual body, those thoughts that echo through eternity,

Whether cast off, broken and lost

In the wide womb of uncreative night.

He closed the book again. And then opened the last page. It was blank, save for the word _Fin_, in what looked like genuine handwriting. And as Rei opened and closed the little book, his mind began to form a plan.__


	11. Chapter 11

Intoxication

Chapter 11

I know this is a week late, but I had work to do in Belfast so I got a little behind. Man, talk about a crazy city! In certain places I had to keep my mouth shut so people wouldn't know I was from the Republic of Ireland! I'm glad to be back home. Here's the next part, anyway.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Click, click, click, click…

Kai desperately wanted to smash Kenny's face into the keyboard, just to stop that obnoxious clicking. They still didn't seem to be any closer to finding where this Renaissance Man was hiding. They had gone from researching receipts and credit card bills to checking over unusual building projects. So far they could connect nothing to anything.

Kai's dreams about Rei were increasing in intensity. He woke up every morning covered in sweat and aroused. By day he missed Rei's company, the constant air of tranquillity that followed the quiet Chinese boy around was so obviously yearned for. And he was terrified of what might happen if their operation took any longer. Every time the phone rang, Kai thought it was a police officer calling to tell them that Rei's body had been found dumped in a ditch somewhere.

At last, Kai realised there was nothing he could do but wait. Wait for Bryan and Kenny to find some clue on the Net, wait for Tala to come up with some sort of plan, wait for Ian and Spencer to arrange the evidence they already had. He could do nothing. He spotted Dranzer lying like a discarded bottle cap on his nightstand, where once Drigger had sat beside her. With a heavy sigh, Kai picked up his Beyblade and walked outside to practice.

Nothing else he could do, really.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei stared at the book. Then at Drigger. Then back at the book.

He had decided to write a note, attach it to his Blade, and set her loose. His plan was full of holes. First off, the only paper he had was the little antique book of poetry Cesare had left in his cell. The last page was blank, except for the little hand-written _Fin_, with enough room for a good-sized message. But there was a chance that if he tore out the page, Cesare would kill him. There was an equal chance that he wouldn't notice.

__

It's an old-ass book, Rei. Take the chance. He might even believe that the page just fell out. Either way, it's the only chance you'll get.

But he had nothing to write with. Why would Cesare leave a ball-point pen in the room with him, after all. There was nothing he could use as a writing implement, nothing at all.

__

Nothing, Rei? Come on! Show a little creativity, for fuck's sake! People have used all sorts of crap to write whatever. This place is bare, but there has to be something. Think, Rei, think! It's one of the few things you're good at! You've been in situations where you had to improvise before, right? What's stopping you now?

****

Oh, Rei. This is both pointless and stupid. He will find out what you're up to, and then you'll be as good as dead. Why can't you just be good? Stay here and keep your nose clean and he won't hurt you. It'll be worse for you out there, Rei.

Rei's stomach was starting to hurt. Over the last few days, it had been sore, but gradually it increased in intensity until it was almost unbearable. He remembered hearing something on television about how a small infection could ferment and fester when in isolation. He believed it was happening to him in there. Just then, Io spoke up for the first time in days. Or rather, she didn't say anything. It was unmistakably her, and she was insisting on showing him a childhood memory.

**__**

It was a hot day, hotter than most. Farmers gave up even trying to work and left their fields. Women rubbed plant oil on their babies' skin to protect them from the sun. The children went to the lake to swim. Twelve year old Lee and ten year old Rei went too, and stayed later than the others.

" I don't want to remember this," muttered Rei, "stop it."

Don't look away, Rei. Keep your eyes on the prize.

**__**

They were finished swimming, so they lay out in the sun to dry off. They were wearing only their underwear. Lee was staring. And then he leaned over Rei and kissed him. Not like the way he kissed his mother or his friends, but an open-mouthed kiss like they had seen his brother do to that brothel girl in the city. Rei was disgusted, and tried to…

" Stop! Why are you making me remember this?"

Soon be over, Rei. Then you'll see.

**__**

…get away, but Lee held on tight. Rei hit out, and Lee grabbed his hair and pulled hard. Rei's head snapped back and hit a rock. And there was blood, and Lee panicked, and apologized, and tried to mop it up…

Wait…

**__**

…and there was blood…

" Blood," Rei breathed softly, as though the idea would dissolve if he said it too loud, " Blood."

He bounded up, ignoring the burn in his stomach, and ran to the bathroom. Surely there was something there that would work…there! A small sliver of mirror was coming loose from the side of the bath. The edge was razor sharp. After drawing the blood, he could use it as a pen. Rei pried the sliver loose carefully and placed it gently on the side of the washbasin.

An untouched glass of wine sat on the food shelf of the door. Rei picked it up gingerly, sniffed it and winced. He harboured thoughts of using it to dull the pain in his stomach, but decided against it. He threw the contents of the glass down the sink and rinsed it out. Washing and drying the items carefully, Rei sat them out in front of him and prepared for what could have been either a brilliant plan or suicide.

He lifted up the heavy black curtain of hair and twisted it into a braid down the front of his body. Slowly, he lifted the sliver of glass to a thin pulse in his neck. He breathed once, twice, three times, and cut swiftly. The flow of the blood was quickly covered by the glass. There was only a slight sting in his neck, and a cold feeling in the path of the flowing blood. Rei held the glass to his neck for five minutes, until he was satisfied that he had enough for the task at hand. He lowered the glass, and staunched the bleeding with a strip torn off of his bed sheet.

With the page torn out of the book, the mirror sliver and the wine glass full of blood, Rei wrote his letter.

**__**

To whoever finds this:

My name is Rei Kon. I have been kidnapped and held captive by a madman and I need help desperately. I don't know how much longer I can hold it together in here. I can only give what little information I know. I'm being held with about twenty other men in a large mansion. My cell, and I assume everyone else's, are custom made stainless steel. The walls and the door are two feet thick at least, with three locks on the door. The walls are covered with reproductions of famous paintings.

The man who took me wears a painted porcelain mask at all times, so I can't describe what he looks like. He recently gave me permission to call him Cesare, but up until then was only known to me as C. He has rules that he expects us all to obey without question. Another prisoner who broke one of these rules not so long ago has since disappeared. That's all I can say. I wish I knew more.

It was concise and uninformative, but the best he could do. The bleeding had eased off, so Rei was able to remove his makeshift bandage. He washed the strip clean in the sink and hung it on the food shelf to dry. The letters written in blood had dried into the page by the time he was finished. He folded the page carefully and removed the Bitbeast from the Blade. The note just about fit into the Blade socket, with the Bitbeast fitting neatly on top.

Rei climbed on top of the bed to reach the tiny ventilation shaft, the only outlet in the cell. He slotted the strip of cloth into the grooves meant for the ripping cord, and held Drigger close to him. If he let her go, his last hope would go with her.

" Drigger," he said calmly, but sounding on the verge of tears, " Please find someone who can help me. But if you can't, find someone who will treat you with as much respect as I have."

Drigger glimmered sadly. She didn't want to go.

" Take care, and Godspeed." Rei pulled the cord and Drigger whizzed through the vent, leaving a silver glare in her wake. Rei watched her until she was out of sight.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Dranzer spun, spun, and dropped. Her heart wasn't in it, and neither was her master's. Nevertheless, Kai picked her up and spun her again. She spun three times before dropping again. Kai sighed, picked her up and spun again.

Then, out of nowhere, a Beyblade came whizzing into Dranzer's path, knocking her over and then toppling itself. Kai looked for the challenging Blader, but there was no-one around. Confused, he picked up Dranzer and was about to kick the spare into a clump of leaves when the Bitbeast became all too familiar to him.

Drigger!

**__**


	12. Chapter 12

Intoxication

Chapter 12

What a week! For some reason I'm able to write Intoxication and other fanfics much quicker than the novel I'm supposed to be making my living off of. I just finished Chapter four, while I'm up to Chapter twelve on this fic. Maybe I'm just lazy sob. Oh well, things get critical here.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Drigger sat glimmering in the palm of Kai's hand like a beautiful jewel. Every time she glowed, it filled his heart with hope. He hadn't realised how strongly he felt about Rei until Drigger appeared before him. And now there was a quickening in his veins, a shock to his heart, a pulsing in his brain. He didn't walk, he ran to the hotel room. He burst through the door, causing everyone in the room to jump, and placed Drigger gently, reverently, on the table. Takao stared at it as though it were a mirage.

" Is that…" he started, but couldn't finish. Kai nodded, still unable to speak. Tala reached for the Blade, turning her so that he could see the Bitbeast on the surface.

" How did you find it?" he asked Kai.

" I…I was blading outside. It jumped into Dranzer's path. It must have been launched by Rei."

" How so?"

" It came at me straight. Only Rei could have launched it to fall at my feet."

" That means he's nearby. How far was his range?"

" Seventy kilometres. That was his record."

" Good. That narrows down our search. Kenny, enter that into our research."

" Research?" Kai was dumbfounded. " Can't we just trace Drigger's path?"

" By the time we set out, the trail will be long gone."

Kai felt his hands begin to shake. They were close, but still they could do nothing… Max suddenly burst into tears and ran out of the room, with Takao following close behind. Kai snatched up Drigger possessively and clutched her to his chest, not caring that the Demolition Boys were staring. He sank onto the bed and held his head in his hands. He squeezed Rei's Blade in his fist…

… and felt the tab pop open. Something fell out of the little hollow space and expanded slightly against his fingers. When he opened his fist, He saw a small, crumpled up piece of paper, deep yellow in colour and smelling of dust. He opened the page slowly, fearing that if he was too rough it would crumble in his hands. The page unfolded, and another smell hit his nostrils. It was metallic and sickly-sweet, unmistakable. Rei's neatly sloping script greeted his eyes, written in some dark reddish-brown material.

" _Blood_," he thought, horrified, "_He wrote this in his own blood."_"

He read the desperate little note and wanted to cry, whether out of fear for someone he cared so deeply about or out of relief that he was still alive he couldn't tell. Tala approached him slowly and lifted the note out of his hand. He scanned it quickly and placed it on the desk. He beckoned to Ian to take a look. They both huddled over it. Then, Tala called out to Kenny.

" Kenny, research all the current owners of first edition _Paradise Lost, _John Milton, signed by author."

Kai looked up. He was hopeful again.

" What are you looking for now?"

Tala sat beside him on the bed and laid a hand on his shoulder.

" Rei just gave us a huge clue, even if he doesn't know it. Ian was able to identify the signature and date the paper it's on. He's a budding antique expert, you know. Anyway, according to him, it's the last page of A first edition of _Paradise Lost _by John Milton. Only ten exist, and three are in museums. We can track him down according to the owner nearest to us."

" I got something else!" shouted Kenny.

" What is it?"

" There was an unusual building project in the Hojo district. That's about sixty three kilometres from here. An army base was converted into what was meant to be a private correctional facility. The building was finished four years ago. There were thirty high security cells built inside the place, the rest was left in its original form, as an eighteenth century manor."

Kai looked up.

" Yes, that would tie in with Rei's note. But we have to be sure. Whose name is on the payslip?" said Tala calmly.

" It was authorised by a Francis Andolini the 2nd."

" What about the book. Anything?"

" There are three in private ownership. One is owned by Francis Andolini."

" That's our guy."

Those were the words Kai had been waiting to hear. But as soon as he heard them, he fainted.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei vomited for the fifth time that day in the bath, as he was incapable of reaching the toilet. There was nothing in his stomach, just water. But he brought up all the water he consumed, and it came out like acid. His throat and nose burned painfully, but he couldn't stop drinking water. As soon as he took another gulp to wet his thirsty throat, he threw it up again. To add to the pain in his stomach and the constant throwing up, there was an irritating ringing in his ears. Europa appeared in front of him, her robe falling open so that her pubic mound was clearly visible. She placed her hand, very cool, on Rei's burning forehead.

__

If only he could see you now, eh? He wouldn't think you're so pretty if he could see you like this. I mean, you've got this very nice red-eyed, blotchy faced, greasy haired thing going on but I don't think that's what he wants. Not that you care right now, do you? You're not doing too good, are you?

The nymph turned up, her sheet pressed close to her small breasts.

****

Of course he isn't. He hasn't been feeling well for a long time. You shouldn't have cut yourself, Rei. That glass was dirty. You've got septicaemia. You're going to die in here.

Io appeared, sitting in the sink. Her arms were cushioning her head against the mirror.

The proof is in the pudding, pudding.

She laughed, a piercing, shrieking sound. The laugh turned into a beep, then another, then a third. The door swung open, and Rei tottered unsteadily towards it. Cesare stood outside, dressed in white breeches topped with a red coat. He looked like an aristocratic hunter. His mask was the same, except for a tear painted on the white side. He looked Rei up and down, and when he spoke his voice was cutting but strangely calm.

" You look awful, Rei."

Rei sniffed and rubbed his eyes.

" I feel terrible."

Cesare nodded, and placed his hand against Rei's forehead.

" You have a temperature. Poor thing. Well, this won't take long, I hope. But that depends on you."

Rei would have felt nervous if he hadn't felt so sick. They were approaching the torture room. They stepped inside, the smell hitting Rei with such force he nearly collapsed. There was excrement lying beneath one of the machines, and there had been no effort to lean it up.

" Undress, Rei. Leave your clothes there."

Rei stripped without hesitation. Then he wrapped his arms around himself as a series of chills racked his body. Cesare took his bare arm, covered in goosebumps, and guided him towards a chair. There were thick leather straps at the wrists and ankles, and Cesare shackled them tight around Rei's thin limbs. Rei couldn't control the shivers that coursed through his body, but in a way it was a blessing. His illness disguised the fact that he was terrified. Cesare was holding the little book of poetry in both hands. He opened it on the last page, where there should have been one more.

" Would you care to explain this, Rei?"


	13. Chapter 13

**__**

Intoxication

Chapter 13

If you're a little squeamish, I suggest you skip this Chapter. It gets a little graphic. The song featured in this Chapter is Carrickfergus, which is a strange one. They make me sing it at parties, and I think what happens is that anyone who sings it makes up their own lyrics as they go along. I've heard at least fifteen different versions, and this one was sung by Charlotte Church at one point.

………………………………...............................................................................................................................................

" Care to explain what?"

Cesare's eyes glittered dangerously from behind his mask.

" No lies, Rei."

His voice sounded so ominous, echoing around the room and rolling back to reach Rei's ears. Rei shivered, but it was because he was cold, not frightened.

" I can't lie if I don't know what I'm lying about."

Cesare turned around and sighed, a heavy sound that made Rei shiver again, this time out of fear. Europa appeared in front of Cesare, but he could not see her.

__

He knows, but he still doesn't have to. All he knows is that there's a page missing. You can play this to your advantage. It's an old book, Rei. Who's to say the page didn't fall out? In fact, who's to say he didn't know this was gonna happen? He's just itching to punish you over this, Rei. He can taste it, and he's so close….

Cesare walked towards the chair, and leaned in close, so close, to Rei's clammy face.

" You tore a page out of this book, Rei. I can only guess as to why, but you broke one of my rules. And so you must be punished."

Cesare sighed again, and Rei was forced to inhale his stinking breath. He ran his hand over Rei's stringy, unkempt but still silky hair.

" I expected better from you, Rei. I didn't want to have to punish you, but I have no choice."

Rei took a deep breath. It was risky, but he didn't care.

" Bullshit."

Cesare straightened, and glared.

" Pardon me?"

Rei leaned forward as far as his restraints could go.

" I said, Bullshit."

Cesare's hand hovered near Rei's shoulder, as though he was itching to slap him.

" Explain yourself, Rei."

" You want to punish me. You've been dying to punish me since I got here, but I never gave you a reason. So you took matters into your own hands, and made a reason yourself."

" Rei…"

Rei leaned back into the chair, the strain showing on his beautiful face.

" You know, you can hit me, rape me, scare the shit out of me if you want, there's nothing I can do about it. But why do you need an excuse to do it? I'm helpless here! I can't fight back!"

Cesare stepped away from the chair, silent. Rei spoke again.

" I _know_ I didn't do anything. And I can't figure out why you need to blame me for something. I've been bending over backwards to keep you happy with me, and even when I do, it's not enough. I don't know how to act around you, because sometimes it seems like you're trying to make me feel comfortable here. Sometimes it seems like you're being nice to me! But other times, it seems like you want to hurt me."

He coughed, a hoarse, moist sound. Cesare drew a handkerchief and held it at Rei's mouth until he was finished. Rei spoke again, quieter this time.

" I'm dying. I don't know how or why, but I'm dying. So if you want to rape me, or kill me, or hit me, just do it. Don't make up reasons. I just don't care anymore."

Rei leaned back and closed his eyes, waiting for the blow. Nothing came, and he opened his eyes when he heard the door slam shut.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

After a few hours, the chill grew in Rei's body. There was no sign of Cesare returning, there was a clock on the wall behind him. He couldn't see it, just heard it tick.

__

Tick…Tick…

The three girls never materialised, maybe because Rei was too tired to conjure them.

__

Tick…Tick…

The burning in his stomach eased a little, because he hadn't eaten. But he realised with sickening clarity that his bladder was full and on the point of bursting.

__

Tick…Tick…

The cold ceased to affect him as a slow heat began to scorch its way from his toes up to his neck. The tremors started again, this time accompanied by a cold sweat. His eyes burned in their sockets.

__

Tick…Tick…

The room seemed to grow darker, and Rei realised he had to empty his bladder. He did so, feeling thoroughly disgusted but at the same time relieved. As the liquid pooled around his thighs, he reminded himself that Cesare was the shameful one, not him.

__

Tick…Tick…

More hours passed, agonizingly slow, and Rei passed out a few times. The heat that racked his body made him feel faint.

__

Tick…Tick…

There was a sharp pain in his head, and then a feeling of liquid coursing from both of his nostrils. Great, a nosebleed, and a pretty bad one. Several drops fell onto his thighs, thick and almost black.

__

Tick…Tick…

The burn in his stomach flared up again, and he leaned to the side. He vomited painfully, although his stomach was only full of acidic water. The urine around his thighs scalded his legs.

The clock faded from his ears, as the girls reappeared. Europa, with her robe hanging open, smirked at him. She spoke, but he could only see her mouth move as her words eluded him. The nymph kneeled across the room, whispering every now and then. He barely heard her, and not well enough to make out what she was saying.

And then there was Io. Beautiful, childish Io. Her hands were clutched behind her back, and she hopped from one foot to the other.

The proof is in the pudding, pudding.

" You said that before," whispered Rei, wincing when blood fell onto his lips, " I don't know what it means."

Seek and you shall find.

And then she started to sing, her voice sounding wrong compared to the way she spoke.

__

I wish I was in Carrickfergus,

Where the castle looks out to sea,

Her song seemed to take on a physical form, that wrapped around Io and clothed her in a long white dress.

__

I would swim over the deepest ocean,

For my true love to be with me,

Her body and face changed to that of another woman, and her hair went from rather short and golden to long and glossy black.

__

But the sea is wide, and I cannot swim over it,

Nor have I wings to fly,

I wish I had a handsome boatman

To ferry me over, my love and I.

And it was only when the woman smiled at him that he realised who she was.

__

Mama…?

Her smile widened, her pearly white teeth glinting in the darkness. She continued her song, and the form it took weaved a grand hall around her, a stage for her to sing.

__

I wish I was in the land of Eireann

Where the mountains reach the sea

Where flowers blossom as I do remember

Where my true love came to me.

It seemed strange that an Italian woman would sing an Irish song to comfort her son, but then Isabella had loved all music, from African tribal songs to German Operas. Carrickfergus was a special place, a haven, an ideal, somewhere one wanted to be in their darkest hour rather than a real location. To Rei, no song could have been more appropriate.

__

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over,

Nor have I wings to fly,

Ah, to be back now, in Carrickfergus,

To be together, my love and I.

To be together, my love and I.

I wish I was back home again.

The door swung open, and she vanished. Cesare appeared in his line of sight, clicking his tongue.

" Oh, Rei. I see you've wet yourself. You must be so embarrassed."

Rei's voice was husky from disuse.

" The shame is yours, not mine. You wanted this to happen. Don't expect anything from me."

Cesare unbuckled the restraints and helped him up. But before he dismissed Rei, he made him kneel before him.

" I abhor swearing, Rei. And before you clean your mouth out, I will sully it some more. I claim it as a right for having to listen to your foul language."

Cesare undid his trousers and pulled Rei forward so that the boy's face was right in front of his groin. And Rei was exhausted and feeling so bad, he did what he was told.

When he was finished, Cesare took a small box from his pocket. He opened it in front of Rei. Inside was a small retainer.

" I noticed you have a slight overbite. This will fix it. You can take it out for meals only."

Rei accepted the gift and allowed himself to be escorted back to his room. He stumbled twice along the way.


	14. Chapter 14

****

Intoxication

Chapter 14

Sorry this one's late. I was in Cork until today. This fic's almost over. After this I'll be writing a sequel, but I need a hiatus. It's pretty depressing, isn't it?

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Kai woke up to a cold, moist feeling on his forehead. He reached his hand over to find a wet flannel on his head.

" About time you woke up."

He looked over to where Tala was sitting beside his bed, leafing through a collection of stapled sheets. Kai sat up, rubbing his aching head.

" What happened?"

Tala looked away from his sheets to meet Kai's eyes.

" You fainted. I'm not surprised, you've been under a lot of mental strain, more so than anyone else. I was expecting you to conk out sooner or later. You've been out for two days."

Kai was about to leap out of bed when Tala's hand shot out and pushed him back against the pillows. He felt awful for sleeping while Rei was still locked up by some lunatic, and now that he was awake he desperately wanted to come to his team mate's aid. He pushed against the hand, but Tala held him firm.

" Let me go, Tala! We know where Rei is, we need to get him out now!"

" Hold on. I did some research on this Andolini guy. We need to approach him with caution. Any clumsiness from us could result in Rei being killed. You don't want that, do you?"

Kai went white at the thought of Rei being murdered because of foolish haste on his part. He sat back to listen to what Tala had to say. Tala nodded approvingly and picked up his sheets again.

" Francis Andolini the 2nd, twenty eight years old. Arrested in 1992 at the age of sixteen and incarcerated in Stanton Memorial Mental Facility. Apparently, he murdered his mother and a servant she was having an affair with. He missed the death sentence because he had her body stuffed and preserved with formaldehyde and dressed in her wedding gown. He thought she was still alive."

Every word he spoke about the man was like a dagger through Kai's heart, but he braced himself. This madman was holding a person very dear to his heart captive, he needed to know what he was likely to do.

" According to this report, he formed a friendship with a Marcus Smythe, a convicted kidnapper and arsonist. He probably picked up some tips on kidnapping from that guy, but no one discouraged the relationship. It was believed that they became lovers too. A report from his fifth year says that he developed a deep distrust of women."

Tala paused in his reading and looked at Kai with concern. Kai nodded, and Tala continued.

" During his seventh year, he was released on good behaviour. His father died of a suspected heart attack five months later. Andolini became a recluse, barricading himself in his mansion. Visiting doctors said he turned the place into a Renaissance-style manor, filled with replicas of artwork from the era. There were repeated incidents of disturbing behaviour reported by locals, but the police ignored them. They even ignored a case where a body was found in the river by some children on a nature hike, stuffed and mounted on a plaque. I looked into it, and guess who funds the local government, including the police?"

" Andolini." Kai swallowed, hard.

" You got it. Everyone knows he's a weirdo, but they ignore it as long as he foots their bills. The commissioner's own arrest over child molestation charges was dropped when Andolini paid the bail."

Tala placed his sheets on the ground and leaned in close to Kai.

" This guy's a professional, Kai. We need to approach this with caution. I'm betting he won't have guns or long-range weapons, but he probably has guard dogs or high-tech security. We've had training in the Abbey to deal with that, so the two of us are going on the offence. Bryan, Ian and Spencer are going to search the manor for other prisoners. Takao and Max got upset when they thought they wouldn't be involved, but I have them on the outskirts as lookouts. They'll call for ambulances or police when we need them. We also need the press there when we break them out, just so there's no chance of a cover-up."

Kai stared at Tala. He had things so well thought out!

" Is that okay with you?"

Kai smiled in response, and felt tears form at the corner of his eyes.

" Perfect. I don't know what I'd have done without you…"

He had to break off there as he felt his voice go husky, a sign of his oncoming tears. Tala rolled his eyes.

" For God's sake, Kai. Save the sap for Rei when you see him again. If you don't tell him how you feel about him after all this, I'll punch you myself! We leave in twenty minutes, so be ready."

Kai looked out the window, noticing that it was dark for the first time since he'd woken up. When he turned back around, Tala was gone.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei was summoned to the ballroom for supper after it turned dark. He was instructed to bathe and wash his hair beforehand, which he did in a lacklustre fashion. He found his vision was getting more and more blurred, whenever the girls showed up he could barely make out their faces. He found that there was blood pooling under his eye sockets, most likely from the force of his vomiting fits. He thought he looked like a panda. His cheeks were hollow, too.

__

Poor Rei. You could still get lucky, you know. At the rate you're going, you might just fall over and die before he gets a chance to fuck you.

****

Don't talk like that! You rebelled, and look what happened. That stint in the torture room just made what was already happening worse. You should have just left well enough alone, Rei. Behave yourself now and you might survive.

Rei heard them speak, but he couldn't see them. With a sigh, he pulled on his clothes. The one advantage of his blurry vision was that he couldn't see his reflection in the many mirrors in the bathroom. Seeing his face in a reflective surface reminded him of his mother. He pushed in his brace, which hurt his jaw as it pushed his teeth back, and ran the provided cheap plastic hairbrush through his damp ebony locks.

The door beeped and swung open, and Rei walked down the hall. The walls were fuzzy and vaguely defined, so he had to follow the smell of the food coming from the ballroom. He entered the giant space and shivered, the marble floor like ice under his bare feet. The table loomed into view, along with the other men seated at it. He took the empty seat near the end of the table, stumbling as he went.

Looking around, he saw the concerned expressions of the men nearest him. They didn't look fantastic themselves, but he knew he looked dreadful. He felt dreadful. They all sat in silence, the only noise made being the occasional sound of someone fidgeting in their seat or coughing softly.

Then there was a light tapping sound against the marble, heralding the arrival of Cesare.

He was dressed more flamboyantly than usual, his black frock coat trimmed with fur and an inch-high heel added to his shoes. His mask was the same, but painted red and black instead of white and black. He held an ivory tipped cane in one hand, the other clutched a glass of scotch. He looked as though he were celebrating something. He took his seat and refrained from speaking to anyone as the meal commenced, just waved his hand when he wanted something done. The prisoners ate in silence, and after the meal he dismissed all of them except for Rei.

The cane tapped ominously as Cesare walked behind Rei. The silence loomed, filled only with Rei's deep breathing. To add to the discomfort of his illness, he had a feeling that something terrible was going to happen. Cesare's fingers trailed through his hair, again and again and again, before he spoke.

" Your hair is looking much better. Healthier, no split ends, much better."

To emphasise his point, Cesare pressed the mouthpiece of his mask to the top of Rei's head. Healthier? Rei could hardly believe the man believed what he was saying. How could he talk about his health when it was so obvious he was half-dead? Cesare turned Rei's chair around so he could see his face. He took Rei's chin in his hand and opened his mouth to look at his teeth, as though he were inspecting a horse. Cesare's fingers probed inside his mouth, and removed his brace, none too gently.

" Your teeth are already improving. Marvellous. Your posture is a little crooked, but we'll work on that next, won't we?"

__

Of course it's crooked, hissed Rei in his head, _you dislocated my shoulder and conveniently forgot about it!_

" You're coming along quite nicely, Rei. You're almost complete. Now, I need you to tell me something."

Seemed simple enough, so why did Rei feel so alarmed?

" What?" he asked hesitantly.

" I want you to tell me you love me."

Ay, there's the rub. It would have been so easy, and Rei had feigned affection before. So why was he feeling so enraged this time? He's never told anyone he loved them, not even his father. He'd had it said to him plenty of times, some sincere, some not. And he's thought about saying it, too. When he'd had that enormous crush on Kai, fantasized about him day and night, he's dreamed of saying ' I love you' to him and having Kai say it back. After yet another incident with misplaced affection, he'd buried his feeling for Kai to the back of his mind with all his bad memories. So why was he thinking about Kai at that moment? Possibly because he knew he was going to die. Europa appeared one last time, to pour her own vitriol onto Rei's poisonous thoughts.

__

Bastard. You know what his plan is, don't you? He knows you won't mean it if you say it. But you will say it, again and again. And every time he treats you nicely, gives you a gift, shows you affection, you'll say it, and believe it just a little more. Little by little, you'll convince yourself that you love him. And then he'll have you forever. Don't say it, Rei.

" No," said Rei, quietly. Not so quiet that Cesare didn't hear. The blow Rei was expecting never came. Instead, Cesare stood up and walked to the end of the table. There was a plate sitting at the edge, covered with a silver lid. Cesare picked it up and walked back, and placed the plate before Rei.

" Lift the lid," he said, sounding ever so slightly angry. Rei lifted the lid, to find a beautiful purple flower sitting on the plate.

" Do you know what that is, Rei?"

Rei shook his head, feeling his headache burn through to his throat.

" It's a very old plant. Flourished in Italy during the Renaissance. Thought it very fitting for the two of us."

Cesare sipped his Scotch, then leaned forward to gently stroke the petals of the flower. His head rested on Rei's shoulder, and the Chinese boy could smell his foul breath.

" They called it 'belladonna.' Beautiful woman. They didn't like to acknowledge such beauty could also be found in the male of the species. I think it was so named because noble ladies would have it ground down to a liquid and then they would place tiny drops into their eyes, to make them dilate and seem bigger."

He stroked Rei's face and turned it to meet his gaze.

" Your eyes have been dilated for quite some time now," he said, " very nice. You, know, belladonna was very popular with the Borgias. Not because they had so many mistresses, although they did. It was because it was a very potent poison."

Rei's blood ran cold.

" Of course, I haven't given you enough to kill you. Just tiny amounts in your food, every now and then, just enough to make you feel a little queasy. The symptoms include hallucinations, fever, sore muscles, but I don't think you've gone that far yet."

__

Queasy? screeched Europa, _Queasy? You've puked blood! That sick bastard!!_

" I have the antidote, so you needn't worry so much. I'll give it to you soon, you look like you could use it."

Rei breathed a sigh of relief..

" When you say you love me, that is."

__

Great. Your life in his hands. But that's been the situation from day one, hasn't it? Hallucinations, right? What do you call me, and the frigid bitch, and the naked chick? Not to mention your poor, departed ma. You haven't thought of your team mates, your **friends, **since you got here! Damned if you do, damned if you don't, sweetie. Proof is in the pudding, remember? She's not stupid. Now, how much do you value your life?

Rei knew the answer. He took a deep breath.

" Fuck your antidote. I don't need it. I will never pollute those words by saying them to you. I hate you, more than I've ever hated anyone. I'd rather die than tell you I have any feelings for you apart from hate."

For just an moment, it felt as though the world itself had stopped turning, and everyone on it had disappeared.

Then Rei felt something hitting his face with all the force of a clap of thunder. He fell to the ground as something warm and sticky poured down his jaw. Rough hands caught him around the waist and slammed him into the table. Those hands left his waist and wrapped around his throat. As his air was cut off and his vision dimmed, Rei found himself staring deep into Cesare's eyes. Maybe it was the blood filling his eye sockets, but for a moment the sockets in the mask appeared to be deep, flaming red.

Rei heard a sound like glass shattering, and the world turned black.


	15. Chapter 15

****

Intoxication

Chapter 15

After keeping y'all in suspense for 14 Chapters, finally the boys make some head way. It's far from over yet, though…

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The garden was clear of guards or hounds, as far as the four boys knew. They were taking a huge risk and they knew it. The mansion loomed before them like the face of a cliff impossible to scale, windows on almost every side. They had no idea where to start. They reached a side of the house with fewer windows than the rest and parted ways, Kai and Tala taking the north side and Bryan and Spencer taking the east. They kept in contact with Max and Takao at the gates through a miniature walkie-talkie.

Creeping carefully around the house, Kai and Tala reached a stretch of the garden lit from above by a room on the second or third floor. It was the only room in the house with any lights on at all. Kai knew, instinctively, that Rei was in that room. He felt drawn to that light like a moth. Fortunately, Tala spotted a trellis running between two of the windows, festooned with climbing roses. He made a gesture to Kai to follow him up. They slowly ascended the thin frame, freezing at times when it felt as though it would buckle under them. The windows they reached were long French panes with paper-thin glass, and they positioned themselves on each side of the trellis to stare into the one nearest them.

For the first time in three months, Kai saw Rei again.

But it wasn't, really. The Rei that Kai remembered was so different to the spectre that sat so pale and fragile in the enormous ballroom, barely moving except for the flash of a white throat as it took in air. That creature was possessed of the same dark hair, the same golden eyes, the same lithe figure as the one that haunted Kai's dreams, but he looked half-dead. All the same, there and then Kai fell in love all over again. He saw only Rei, and paid no attention to the shadowed figure that circled the Chinese boy like a vulture.

But that was why Tala was there. He saw the figure in the mask and the period clothes, and he considered him. The man was clearly unstable, his stance was one of someone in a constant state of aggression. No matter what he did, he looked as though he were ready to pounce on the boy in the chair. He knew the danger they were putting themselves in.

And then, all hell broke loose.

The masked man, who had merely been conversing with his subject, suddenly and viciously struck Rei across the face with his ivory-tipped cane. Rei was thrown out of his chair by the force of the blows, and the man kept hitting until he realised it wasn't having the desired effect. So he caught the boy around the throat and lifted him off of the ground, crashing him into the table. Rei struggled for a few moments, with his arms and legs flailing. But it wasn't long before his efforts waned.

Kai was so shocked by the sudden, violent outburst that he was unable to move. But as soon as he saw the masked man strangle Rei, he could stand by no longer. He pulled Dranzer out of his pocket and launched it at the window. The window exploded in a blaze of silver, the masked man threw himself back, and Rei lay motionless on the table. Kai thought it strange that he felt no anger. All he had felt for so many days was anger. But now, the only emotion he was experiencing was concern for Rei. Without even looking at the masked man, he ran to Rei's side.

Tala stepped through the broken window, his own Beyblade drawn and aimed at the masked man. The stranger himself, clutching his ivory cane with spatters of blood on the tip, was clearly unsure of whether it was a weapon or not, backed away even further. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Kai, who was checking Rei's pulse. To his relief he found a weak flutter on Rei's neck.

" How is he?" asked Tala.

" He's alive! He's fine…" called back Tala.

Fine wasn't really an appropriate word. There was a deep gash on Rei's forehead and a slow trickle of blood coursing from his open mouth. Kai wiped the blood away with the corner of his scarf and shook the unconscious boy gently. For what seemed like an eternity, Rei remained motionless. But then, those spiderweb-thin eyelashes flickered gently and opened. Rei's eyes were several shades darker than usual, a raw umber rather than bright gold. He coughed lightly before taking in deep, frenzied gulps of air to replace what he had lost from the struggle with the masked man. He met Kai's gaze with confusion.

" What…" he whispered.

" Hi," Kai whispered back.

" Kai? God dammit, he caught you too…" Rei broke off as a coughing fit began. Kai put his arms under Rei's shoulders and lifted him slightly to ease his breathing. A crackle from where Tala was took his attention away from Rei.

" I sent the signal to the two at the gates. The police will be here soon." That last remark was aimed at the masked man, who had taken a seat and was fingering his cane in a contemplative manner. Another crackle came from the walkie-talkie, and Tala switched his weapon from one hand to the other to check the little machine.

" That's the signal from the other two. They've found your harem." Again, the last part was directed at the masked man. " They'll call for ambulances."

" Ambulances? No, I need an undertaker…" Rei trailed off as he lost consciousness.

" What do you think you're going to do with that little piece of plastic?" spoke a silky voice from behind the mask. He twirled his cane nonchalantly.

" I can do a surprising amount of damage with this. I've had military training. Why don't you take the mask off?" Tala spoke with the calm, easy tone of a hostage negotiator.

" I only remove my mask around people I feel truly comfortable with. Since you're pointing that alleged weapon at me, I suppose that rules you out."

Rei began to cough, and then heave violently. Kai, thinking he needed to be elevated, raised him higher. Rei's head lolled to the side and he shuddered, emitting a frightening amount of blood onto the marble floor. Kai panicked.

" Tala! He's bleeding!" Kai almost screamed, the sound bounced off of the walls and echoed through the hall. Tala, keeping his weapon trained on the masked man, moved towards them. When he saw the puddle of gore lying on the floor, and the deathly pallor of the Chinese boy's face, he dropped his defensive stance and checked Rei's pulse. Drawing Rei's eyelids back, his expression became one of concern.

" Take him outside, Kai, and wait for the ambulance. I'll take care of…"

When Tala turned around, the masked man had disappeared.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The police flooded the mansion, the captives were boarded onto ambulances and taken to hospital. The six boys saw no reason to stay anywhere near the place. The remaining members of the Bladebreakers, along with Tala and Bryan, followed Rei's ambulance to the hospital. Rei was taken to Intensive Care when it became clear that he was bleeding internally.

They waited in the hospital corridor for hours, silently. Occasionally, Takao would whisper to Max or Kenny, or Tala to Bryan. Kai stayed utterly stoic, trying not to think of Rei's condition. The other men who ad been held captive weren't in as bad a state as Rei was, most of them were reclining in the Trauma ward, being talked to by counsellors and police officers. News reporters bustled outside, the story having broken to the public two hours after the men were recovered. The police commissioner had gone outside once to offer a statement, but clearly it wasn't enough for them.

The doors to the ICU slid open, and a doctor dressed in pale green scrubs. He looked around briefly, obviously searching for Rei's family. Kai stepped towards him.

" Are you with Rei Kon?" asked the surgeon. His thin brown hair was stuck to his face with sweat from a strenuous few hours with the patient. Kai nodded, not trusting himself to speak. The doctor leafed through the assorted charts on his clipboard.

" Rei has sustained some serious internal damage, and I'm afraid his condition isn't improving. In fact, it seems to be deteriorating. We've run some tests to determine the cause, but they take up to two weeks to get back to us. For now, the only thing we can do is make him as comfortable as possible."

" Is he going to die?" whispered Kai, so the others wouldn't hear.

" Yes. I'm sorry."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Another late Chapter, and the last one ended on such a vicious cliffhanger, too. Well, this one should clear things up, but it's still not over. And for everyone who panicked in their reviews, don't worry! I've never killed a main character in a fic yet, and I don't intend to start with this one.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Kai had to concentrate hard on the clean white walls and the cloying stench of disinfectant just to keep himself from collapsing. The doctor's words rang through his head like a bell, sounding out then beginning again and again and again. No hope. Rei's going to die. All that work, all the planning, the months of hoping and praying, all for nothing because Rei was going to die and there was nothing they could do.

Tala stepped behind him and whispered to him, disguising his words as just idle chatter to the others.

" Go in and see him, Kai. It may be the last time. I'll tell them."

Kai walked into the ICU without looking back. There was a fringe room on the edge of the unit for people on life support to be seen by relatives and loved ones, but that day, Rei's bed was the only one occupied. The machines that surrounded him chirruped and beeped reassuringly, letting him know that Rei, for the moment, was still alive. His body was covered from the chest down by a thin grey blanket that made his skin seem even more pallid, dots of red from the intravenous needles in his arms providing the only real colour in the room. His hair was covered by a grey cap to keep the tangled locks from interfering with the oxygen mask obscuring half of his face.

Kai leaned over the bed and gently ran the tips of his fingers over the unconscious boy's face. He had dreamed of doing so in happier times, and imagined it would feel like silk to the touch. Now that he was finally able to do so, it felt more like cold wax. But that was probably due to the injuries, he reasoned. His fingers drifted closer to Rei's eyes, and felt the eyelashes brush against his knuckles as the lids flickered and then opened.

Rei's eyes were dilated to such a degree that they were almost black, with a thin ring of amber skirting around the pupil. His vision was blurry, but as it focused he recognised the person leaning over him. The pale-hued hair, the high cheekbones, the crimson eyes, it could only be one person. If the oxygen mask had allowed it, Rei would have smiled. His old crush on Kai flared up as he remembered how most of his dreams had contained this very scenario, of him waking to find Kai looking down upon him. He had been forced to put such feelings behind him once for the sake of maintaining the fragile friendship rekindled with the White Tigers. It seemed so irrelevant now…

Europa sat beside him, a murderous look on her face.

__

What the fuck are you doing? You can't reminisce now, Rei! Save your puissant sap for later! I don't know if you realise this, but you're strapped to a life support machine and you're dying! You should know this, you woke up during the operation three fucking times!! And you know what? You know what's wrong, but nobody else does! And how the fuck are they going to find out if you don't fucking tell them?

Kai frowned as Rei's hands began to move in a jerking motion towards his face. What was he trying to do? The hands were twisted into a claw and tugged insistently at the oxygen mask. Kai reached out to stop him, thinking he was having a fit of delirium. Rei's hands slapped his away with surprising force, and tore the mask away from his face. He took a few gulps of air, choking on them at first. He coughed, bringing droplets of blood up to spatter on the surface of the mask. But as soon as he was sure he could speak, he grabbed the collar of Kai's shirt and pulled him close.

" He poisoned me," Rei hissed into Kai's ear. Those three words chilled Kai's blood. Rei's hand fell away as the Chinese boy lapsed back into merciful unconsciousness. Kai wiped the mask with a tissue before fixing it over Rei's face. Then he ran out of the unit as fast as he could.

In the corridor, Max and Takao were in the process of comforting each other. Max was clearly in shock, he couldn't even bring himself to the verge of tears. Takao was sobbing violently, his head buried in Max's chest. Even Kenny was in tears, though not in hysterics. Bryan was comforting him, a grim look etched into his chiselled face. Spencer and Ian averted their gazes politely, leaving the team mates to their grief. Tala observed it all in silence, until Kai practically launched himself at the stoic boy and whispered harshly to him.

" Rei spoke to me," he hissed, " He said he was poisoned. Could that be why he's not getting better?"

Tala chewed his lip as he thought. Then he gestured towards the ICU.

" Get his chart. Ian!" he called to the smaller Demolition Boy. " I got something to ask you."

Kai ran back into the ward, retrieved the chart and rushed out again. Tala and Ian were talking softly. When Kai handed him the chart, Tala showed it to Ian.

" Ian's our chemistry expert," said Tala, to reassure Kai. " If there's something up, he'll know."

" There's damage to the blood vessels, cirrhosis of the internal organs, even muscle wall disintegration. This indicates the gradual inducing of a corrosive element that's near impossible to trace." Ian broke off to think. " That's either arsenic or belladonna."

" Are you sure?" asked Tala.

" Certain," Ian nodded.

" Belladonna, definitely. It has links to the Renaissance. Arsenic isn't his style. Go get the doctor."

Within minutes, Rei was moved from the ICU to the operating theatre. It took twelve hours until Rei was completely out of danger. When the doctors came downstairs and told his friends he was going to survive, Kai dissolved into tears.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The recuperation period for Rei was much longer than the other victims of the abductor. Whereas most of the men were allowed to leave the hospital within two weeks, Rei was kept under medical supervision for over a month. The belladonna had done serious damage to his lungs, and there was even discussion of a transplant. Five weeks after the prisoners had been released, he was allowed into the General Ward of the hospital. Police Investigators requested a rape kit for the case file, which Rei protested vehemently against. His objections were ignored and the examination was carried out, though there was no good reason for it.

Kai visited every day, along with the others. They found Rei to be quieter than they were used to. He spent most of their visits nodding and smiling while Takao or Max chattered away about nothing in particular. He always smiled but never laughed, and seeing them all again seemed to put him under strain. But as they prepared to leave at night, he would come up with some excuse to keep them there longer. Kai realised he didn't want to be left alone, and so he volunteered to stay at the hospital.

The sixth week passed, and Rei turned sixteen while lying in a hospital bed. The celebrations were muted, especially after they received word of one of the victims. His mother had found him lying in the bath, where he'd been scrubbing himself raw, with his wrists opened. She'd collapsed and died herself the next day. Her son was all she had. The seventh week drifted by, taking two more victims with it. Apparently, the news of the first suicide had set them off. The eighth week started with Rei leaving the hospital ward and beginning counselling. He moved into their new hotel room with the Blade Breakers, but their first night began badly when Rei woke up screaming bloody murder. His counsellor responded by prescribing antidepressants.

Having Rei back caused Kai's crush on the Chinese boy to intensify. His previous feelings for Rei may have been a simple physical desire, but seeing Rei so fragile and vulnerable and still willing to struggle on convinced him that he was in love. For all his faults, though, Kai was a prudent person. He knew that Rei was frail, emotionally and mentally, for the time being. Any upset, no matter how slight, could cause lasting damage and that was the last thing he wanted. So he buried his feelings deep in his mind until he could barely feel them himself. He told himself he would allow them to be revealed as soon as this whole sorry mess was sorted out.

For his part, Rei was just utterly terrified. Now that he was out of the cell, he didn't quite know what to do with himself. Everything seemed cold and dark, he needed to hold on to something familiar. Having his friends around helped, but as soon as they were gone the terror would grip him again. And unless he was surrounded by noise, he could think of nothing but the fact that Cesare was still out there, that he hadn't been caught. His friends had tried to keep this from him, but he had found out from one of the nurses. Cesare had tried and failed to kill him, would he try to finish the job? All Rei wanted to do was forget what happened, but the police, the journalists, the doctors, just _everyone _was trying to pull information from him until he couldn't find any more words to express how he felt. The rape exam was the worst, he felt even more violated by that than by anything Cesare had done to him. He was adamant he hadn't been raped, and that five weeks after the incident nothing of worth could be found inside him. They hadn't listened.

He found sleeping in his hotel room near impossible, having been locked up in a room just as small for so long. As soon as he was sure everyone was asleep, he often got dressed and moved outside to sit out the rest of the night on a bench in the hotel gardens. He knew how dangerous it was, but he had been taken from his room as he slept! How could sitting outside be any more risky? On the fourth night of the ninth week, he was joined by someone. He had been about to scream for help when he recognised the person sitting beside him. He was relieved, but only a little.

" This is the seventh night in a row. Isn't this a little risky?" asked Bryan calmly.

Rei tensed. He knew that Bryan had been vital to the team while they were looking for him, but the incident at the World Championship was still etched in his mind.

" How did you know I've been coming out here?" he asked, a little timidly.

" I saw you on the first night. I've been keeping an eye on you since, but I figured you'd like some company. Even if it is me," he added with a shrug. " I know why you don't wanna be inside. That's cool with me. I prefer the great outdoors myself. But you shouldn't be out here alone, especially looking the way you do."

Rei closed his eyes. He didn't want to go down that road, especially with Bryan.

" Wanna hear a story?" Bryan stared straight ahead, though he was addressing Rei.

" What kind of story?" Rei asked, suspiciously.

" It's a sad story, but it has a happy ending. I think, anyway. Not too sure just yet."

" Okay. Go ahead."

Bryan exhaled once, and began.

" Once upon a time - yeah, it's that kind of story - there was this man. Even when he was young you couldn't call him a boy, he was born a man. Stood well over six feet tall, with shoulders as wide as a bull's and hands that could crush bone. But he was a gentle giant, he loved children and they loved him. All he wanted was to get married and start a family of his own.

He lived in this tiny village in one of the most remote places of the world. There were two ways to make a living in this village; on a farm or in the coal mines. He worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-one, and then he met someone.

She was seventeen, as beautiful as an angel and as small as he was large. He fell for her as soon as he saw her. She loved him back, and they wanted to get married. But she was from a good family, one of the richest in the country. Her parents didn't want her marrying some poor farmer, they'd already promised her to a family friend. She defied them to marry him, so they disowned her. She didn't care. They were happy together, at least for a while.

She got pregnant, less than a year after they were married. She had a little boy, and they were so happy it was unbelievable. But now that there was three of them, he knew they couldn't survive on his farmhand wages. So he got a job in the mines, and hated it from day one. It was a horrendously dangerous job, barely a day went by without someone being injured or killed down there. Any money he had left over, they stored away to buy a small patch of land so he could grow their own food. He came home every night, lungs aching from inhaling toxic coal dust all day, and put money in a little jar under the bed. Then he kissed his wife and embraced his son, and was glad that this was the life he'd chosen. He loved his wife and son more than life itself.

While he was working, his wife was having trouble coping. She was used to having things done for her, being waited on hand and foot. She loved her husband and her son, but sometimes she got angry with them. She sometimes hit her son with more force than was necessary, but he didn't mind so much. His father explained to him that she was highly-strung and he had to be patient with her. The little boy worshipped his father, his words were very important to him."

Bryan broke off for a moment, breathed deeply, and continued.

"Then, one day, there was a landslide in the mines. The man was trapped under a wall of solid rock, but he managed to survive for two days. In the end, his air ran out and he suffocated. The entire town mourned him, he was so well liked by everyone. The local undertaker even made his coffin free of charge. There was a crowd of people outside the day they buried him. They were all sorry to see him gone.

The ones who suffered the most were his wife and son. You see, the boy thought his father was indestructible. He was only four years old, what did he know about death? His mother was inconsolable, and I wish I could say it was all for her husband. But, really, the thing that weighed on her the most was how she was going to support herself and her child now that she was a widow. She could barely cook, she rarely cleaned and that little nest egg her husband had been saving she had taken without his knowing. She'd spent it on a dress and some shoes. I believe, on those few days, she actually hated him for leaving her.

Barely a week after her husband was buried, her mother came to see her. She still loved her daughter, in spite of the choices she had made. She had an offer for her; if she moved back home, all would be forgiven. But there was a price. She would have to forget she was ever married, never to even speak the name of her former husband. And this also meant she would have to give up her son and pretend he didn't exist."

Bryan laughed, but harshly.

" I wish I could say she thought long and hard about it, but the truth is she decided on the spot. She brought her son, her four year old son, to the nearest orphanage and left him at the gates. She didn't even look back."

Bryan broke off again. His jaw was set in a hard line.

" Have you seen her since?" asked Rei. He had figured out a little into the story who Bryan was talking about.

" She married again, moved to France. Not seen hide nor hair since. I hated her then, but I loved her too. She was my mother, how could I not love her? How could I hate her? I couldn't, so I forced myself to bury all my anger deep inside me. The orphanage was taken over and converted to the Abbey, I got sucked into Beyblading. I was able to release some of my anger into my blading, but not all of it.

I guess it all came to a head during the World Championships. I thought I'd caught a glimpse of her that day in a high society newspaper I saw in a dustbin. And then, I was called up to blade. Against you."

Bryan turned to look Rei in the eyes. He saw no anger there, whereas the day of that fateful match there was nothing but anger.

" You look like her, you know. I remember she had long black hair, like you. Most of all, I remember she was incredibly beautiful, and so are you. It seemed like adding insult to injury. All my anger just made its way to the surface. I didn't just want to beat you, I wanted to physically hurt you. I wanted to hurt her, but she wasn't there, so I had to hurt you.

I thought beautiful people, like you, like her, were used to getting everything you wanted without even trying. That as soon as the going got tough, you'd give up. And not only did you see it out to the end, you actually defeated me."

He laughed again, this time much more warmly.

" I gave you quite a beating, didn't I? And you didn't give up. That day I went from hating you to admiring you. And my anger was gone forever. When I heard you'd gone missing, I had to help out. I still hadn't made it up to you, what I did that day."

Rei smiled back at him.

" I forgave you a long time ago, Bryan. But, thank you."

" I hope you don't let this beat you, Rei. Your strength is what I've always admired about you. If I had half your strength, I would have apologised to you long before all this."

Bryan trailed off. The two sat in silence until the sun came up.


	17. Chapter 17

****

Chapter Seventeen

We're nearly done here, but Cesare has to make his final appearance. The song featured in this Chapter is 'Needle and the Damage Done' by Neil Young. It's pretty self-explanatory.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei found himself waking slowly, which was strange because he couldn't recall going to sleep. He had been avoiding sleep since leaving the hospital. Sleep only brought him nightmares. His entire body ached from the inside out, especially in his throat and lungs. He blinked once, twice and opened his eyes fully…

… a steel barb was inches from his eye.

He recoiled quickly, only to feel a sharp sting in his back. When he reached behind him, his fingers came across a jagged surface that drew blood. There was one above him, digging into his scalp. One underneath him, breaking skin on his hip. He raised himself off the ground to take a good look at his surroundings. Immediately he wished he hadn't.

He was in a large room, about the size of your average hotel room. The floor was musty grey tile, covered with little spots of unidentifiable brown muck. The only source of light came from a single bulb dangling from a thin black wire in the middle of the ceiling. And the tiny amount of light glinted off the surface of coils and coils of shiny, new razor wire.

The wires were everywhere. The room was bare but for those wires, and they covered every square foot. There wasn't a space that Rei could stretch a limb without being cut. Even sitting still wasn't safe. There were at least six piercing him on all sides. If he looked, really hard, he could see the door of the room, and it was wide open. The space beyond the door was pitch black, but it promised freedom. It was at least sixteen feet to the door, and there was no safe way to make it through the wire.

At the edge of the room, he saw Io. The belladonna was out of his system, why was he still seeing her? Her mouth widened into a charmless smile as one chubby hand took hold of her golden curls. Her eyes rolled in her head and she rocked back and forth. A song drifted from her mouth, sounding like a nursery rhyme until Rei heard the lyrics.

__

I caught you knockin'  
at my cellar door  
I love you, baby,  
can I have some more  
Ooh, ooh, the damage done.

  
  
_I hit the city and  
I lost my band  
I watched the needle  
take another man  
Gone, gone, the damage done._

If there was only one reason for him to make his way over to the door, it would have been to make her stop singing. Either way, Rei knew he'd have to move. He sat for a few more moments, thinking long and hard about how best to prevent injury to himself. He took off his shoes and slipped them onto his hands. He then removed his shirt and tore it in half, then wrapped the two pieces around his feet. He delayed his actions for another minute or two, but finally he had to move. Slowly, he places his hands on the wire in front of him, on the smooth space between the barbs. Closing his fists around the wire, he pulled himself forward, wincing as one of the barbs at his back tore into his skin.

His plan was to bend a tunnel into the wire that he could pass safely through. Leaning his weight on the wires in front of him, he dragged his feet forward and slid under the barbs overhead. For every metre he cleared, he was scratched at least three times. By the position he had forced himself into, he had to look down at the ground. He saw drops of blood become puddles, and those puddles became a lake. Slowly, so slowly, he made his way to the top of the wire structure. Had a normal, 150-pound human being tried this, the whole construction would have crumpled underneath him and he would have been impaled by the spikes. Luckily, Rei's weight and sense of balance made him just about able to pull off this manoeuvre. Io's reedy voice rang in his ears.

__

I sing the song  
because I love the man  
I know that some  
of you don't understand  
Milk-blood  
to keep from running out.  
  
I've seen the needle  
and the damage done  
A little part of it in everyone  
But every junkie's  
like a settin' sun.

Wrapping his fingers, through his cloth shoes, around the wires, he supported the weight of his body on his arms. Then he lifted his feet off of the last wire, pulling them forward until they rested between his arms. Then he purposefully fell forward until he was in range of the next wire, and reached out to catch it just before he dropped. He repeated the procedure, time and time again, until he was nearly out of the room. He reached the door, from where he was he could almost see the corridor, and Io had disappeared. He was so close…

… there was a snapping sound, unlike that of a bone breaking but equally as ominous. He looked down at the wire, and saw the already thin metal strand sporting a tear. The thread was only held together by a shard of steel, and if that snapped, he'd be dead within minutes. Rei racked his brain, trying to come to a decision. If he stayed where he was, there was a chance his muscles would go numb and he would fall anyway. If he made a jump for the door, the sudden shift in balance could cause the wire to snap and it would wheel around and hit him. It was no contest. He'd have to risk the jump.

He braced himself carefully, coiling the muscles in his legs like a spring. He heard the metal shard groan under the strain, and knew he didn't have any time to waste. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and threw himself forward in a graceful arc.

Success! He landed on clear ground, just inches from the closed door…

… when had the door closed? Panicked, he threw the shoes off of his hands and tugged at the door handle. It was locked. He put his entire weight against it, but it didn't budge an inch. From behind him, Rei heard the sickening sound of the metal shard snapping. Quickly he curled into a ball to minimize the damage.

The snapping of the shard set off a chain reaction through the room. The broken wire cracked against the wall, throwing two sets of wires into the air. They snapped against a series of lines near the floor, causing them to jump to the side. One by one, each of the wires whipped about the room as though they had been infused with bolts of electricity. They made their way to where Rei was crouched, flogging his legs and back like whips. The force of the blows knocked him off balance, he sprawled across the floor. Two wires wrapped around his legs, the barbs forcing their way into his skin. All he could do was look up to see the jagged whip hurtling towards his face. It cracked over his eyes, he was blinded in a sea of red. The last thing he felt was his limbs being ripped from his body...

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei woke, taking in great gulps of air. For a moment, the dream had so terrified him that he hadn't been able to breathe. He groped at his face in the dark, the feeling of pain across his eyes carrying over from his subconscious into his conscious. There was a feeling of wetness all over his back and legs, but he realized with palpable relief that it was cold sweat and not blood. The blankets of the bed were twisted around his legs, in much the same way the razor wire was n his dream. Rei clutched the blankets to his chest and tried to calm down.

A soft touch to his shoulder wrenched a scream from Rei's dry throat, and he clenched his hands into fists to defend himself if it was necessary. The bedside lamp was turned on, and he found himself looking into Kai's concerned face. He calmed down, but found he couldn't stop shaking. Kai noticed this.

" Are you okay?" Kai asked, although he knew the other boy was clearly not. Rei didn't answer, just ran a violently shaking hand through his sweat-soaked bangs. Kai sighed wearily.

" You're exhausted. Maybe you should have taken those pills you were prescribed…"

" I don't want them," Rei cut in sharply, " it's just nightmares. I don't feel so scared outside."

" Yeah, but you haven't had a full night's sleep since you left the hospital," Kai countered, " You need it badly. You'd feel better if you just took them."

" I wouldn't feel better. I wouldn't feel anything, and when I wake up I'd feel paranoid and twitchy. I'd rather be awake and terrified."

" What was the dream about?"

"…"

" You might feel better if you talk about it."

" I was in a room full of razor wire. I tried to reach the door, but when I got there it was locked, and then the wires split. They ripped me to pieces."

" Christ. No wonder you were screaming in your sleep."

" I was?"

" Yes. I thought you were dying."

" I thought I was. You know why? It's because he's still out there somewhere."

" This kind of trauma's to be expected, Rei. The doctors said it could take years to recover from something like this."

" That's bullshit. Nothing happened to me, at least compared to what that psychopath did to the others. I'd be fine if he wasn't still out there. I think he may come back for me. And God help me, I'm scared!"

Rei's voice broke at the last word, but Kai could see he was resisting the urge to cry. That was fine with him, if Rei didn't want to cry, Kai wouldn't force it out of him, whether he would feel better for it or not.

" Why don't you take a shower? You're soaked through."

" No. I must have bathed at least three times a day while I was inside. I want to be dirty, just for a while."

" Okay." Kai chuckled softly at that. Rei wasn't even dirty, as such, but the sweat must have been uncomfortable. " But at least change your clothes. You can't sleep covered in sweat."

Rei left the bed, and Kai got back into his own. Rei stripped, and Kai politely averted his eyes, but they were drawn to Rei's back. The previously smooth expanse of caramel-coloured skin was littered with black bruises and tiny cuts. No wonder he can't sleep, thought Kai, that must be terribly uncomfortable.

Rei finished dressing, and was about to return to his bed. But before he could climb in, Kai caught his arm. The covers on his bed were pulled back, Kai gestured to the empty space beside him. Rei looked at him dubiously.

" The blankets are soaked too. Hop in."

Rei blinked, confused.

" You want me to sleep with you?"

" That's a loaded question," chuckled Kai. Rei blushed as he realized what Kai meant. He smacked the other boy lightly on the arm.

" Not like that, pervert! I mean, that's a little… out of character for you."

" Call it extenuating circumstances. If you have another nightmare, I can wake you up. Hop in."

Rei did so, blushing like mad. He'd had dreams about this scenario. Though they had been considerably less tame. Kai, for his part, did his best to think unsexy thoughts. As Rei felt his eyelids grow heavy, he unconsciously slid closer to Kai and ended up practically wrapped around his handsome team captain as he slept. Kai sighed deeply. He was sleepy, but how could he sleep when the object of his affection was actually cuddling him? He steeled himself for a long, pleasant night.


	18. Chapter 18

**__**

Intoxication

Chapter 18

Sorry it's taken so long to get this Chapter finished. Writer's block had affected all six of the projects I'm working on. My ex says I'm a workaholic. Who wouldn't want to work when it's so much fun?

P.S: Commiserations for any Americans reading this fic on the election results. I really thought Kerry would win, but what do I know?

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

The weeks passed slowly, and things seemed to be improving. Kai, however, knew they weren't. If anything, the situation was getting worse. Every night, Rei woke up screaming, but as soon as Kai would try and talk to him, the Chinese boy would act like he wasn't really that scared. He used excuses like his worry that Andolini was still out there, being unused to the sleeping arrangements, having the last traces of the belladonna leaving his system, but he would never admit that he had suffered horribly at the hands of that psychopath. It was as though it would be admitting a weakness if he did.

The sleepless nights were having an adverse effect on Rei's health. He was moody and irritable, though he made an effort to smile and be pleasant when in company, and his breathing was likened to that of a seven-pack-a-day smoker. He needed rest badly, so Kai tried to convince him to start using the tranquillisers. Finally, Rei relented and started taking them. As Rei predicted, it only made matters worse. He didn't wake up screaming in the middle of the night anymore, instead he woke up late in the morning in tears. At first he'd tried to explain that the pills were making him over-emotional. But after coaxing from Kai, he admitted he was still having nightmares and the pills were preventing him from escaping them.

They moved hotels soon after the pills were binned, and Kai ordered a room with a double bed. When Rei questioned this, Kai explained that Rei slept better when there was someone nearby. When one thought about it, he could have achieved the same thing by moving his single bed closer to Rei's. But he had selfish reasons of his own, and Rei found the decision made sense. Although he would never admit it, since his escape he'd been avoiding people touching him as much as possible. For some reason, he didn't mind Kai touching him. So he accepted the new sleeping arrangements without a word.

Slowly, surely, things began to get better. Rei's nightmares began to diminish, until they stopped altogether. His mood improved, his smiles became genuine and once, Kai even thought he heard the other boy laugh. He could just have been coughing, though. He got the all-clear at the hospital, meaning the surgery they had been planning for was unnecessary. Things really were looking up.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

__

10pm.

" You've got another appointment tomorrow, early. Maybe you should have an early night."

" No way. I'm not tired. Anyway, its just a procedure. They don't get their annual funding if they don't check on their patients once in a while. Let's do something."

" Like what?" Kai blinked, confused. Rei's attitude had done a complete turnaround in less than a week. Was he just in high spirits, or was there something else going on?

" Let's go to the bar!"

" What? We're underage."

" You look older, and you're loaded. No-one will stop you. Come on! I'm sick of staying in my room!"

How could Kai argue with that? He couldn't, of course. Within minutes they were ensconced within the mock-Tudor bar with its wooden benches and round tables, cradling shots of vodka. Kai had offered to buy Rei a glass of wine, but Rei had declined abruptly. Kai was mildly impressed with how quickly Rei was able to knock back the drinks, but also rather alarmed. What kind of hazard would so much alcohol pose to Rei's damaged system?

" Hey, take it easy!" Kai said gently, as he watched his drinking partner knock back a sixth shot in only a few seconds. " It's not like they're running out of vodka up there."

Rei laughed, a little too loudly, but there were only three other people in the bar. A touristy-looking elderly couple chattered away over their pints of lager, and a middle-aged man with glasses nursed his orange juice at the bar. Rei brought his glass down with an audible clack. He was well on his way to being completely and utterly inebriated. Kai decided not to buy any more drinks.

" You're funny tonight," slurred Rei, in a way that was strangely endearing, " you're never usually funny. It suits you."

Kai smiled at his partner as he carefully removed the shot glass from Rei's hand. His fingers brushed the other's for a fleeting moment, but he pulled away quickly, aware that Rei might find such contact alarming. Rei stared hard back at him. There was a glimmer of hurt in his eyes.

" Why did you pull away? I didn't bite you or anything," he said quietly.

" Yeah, I know. It's just… I don't know how to put this…" Kai stammered.

" You think because of what happened I don't want anyone touching me, right?"

" Yes. That's it."

" That's bullshit. There's nothing wrong with me." Rei practically hissed the last statement.

" I never said there was," Kai whispered, hoping he hadn't offended the other boy, " but I know it takes time to get over this kind of thing. Some people never get over it. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

" How many times do I have to say this? Nothing happened to me! At least, not when you compared what he did to me to what he did to the others! He raped them, he beat them, he killed some of them! Compared to that what I went through was nothing. The worst thing he did to me was force me to give him a blowjob, but it's not like that's never happened to me before!"

After his tirade, Rei seemed uncomfortable with what he had said, as though he had made a faux pas. He looked away, and his cheeks burned. Kai understood everything just a little more. So Rei felt guilty for feeling traumatised when he considered what he had gone through less serious than what the others had. How would he ever come to terms with his own suffering if he couldn't even admit he'd suffered?

" You know what makes all this even worse? I should have expected this. At some point I should have expected this to happen. My face, my body, it's always brought me nothing but trouble. My entire life, there's always been someone around who wanted to do something to me. I was always on my guard before, but I got lazy. It's never going to stop. Looking like this, I'm just asking for it."

As Kai listened, horrified, to Rei's torrent of self-loathing, as the Chinese boy fingered his empty glass contemplatively.

" There were times I tried to fix it. I'd pluck up enough courage to take a knife to my face, to cut my hair, to throw myself off of some great height, be forever disfigured so I could live a normal life. But every time I tried, someone would be there to stop me, or I'd just lose my nerve. I might have been better off if Cesare had killed me."

" Don't say that," Kai whispered, " nothing like this is going to happen ever again."

" Says who? I've tried to escape it, it just seems to follow me," Rei whispered back, sounding so tired.

" Says me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, ever again."

Rei stared, confused, at him." Why?"

Kai took a deep breath before answering.

" Because I'm in love with you."

The sudden panic that appeared clearly on Rei's face made Kai's heart lurch in his chest.

" No, that's not true! They all say that, why should I believe you?" Rei whispered harshly.

" I can accept it if you don't feel the same way, I don't expect anything from you, I just want you to know how I feel. It's because I care about you that I don't want to see you suffer. So, I swear to you right now, as long as I can prevent it I'll never allow you to suffer. As for believing me, well, you'll just have to take my word for it."

There was silence, but the frenzied look had left Rei's face. After a few moments, he got up off the bench.

" I think I'd better go to bed. I'm really drunk," he explained. Kai nodded. But before he left, Rei said one last thing to his companion.

" I think…I can trust you. Thank you, for everything."

With that, he left the bar. Kai could barely believe his ears. It was better than he'd hoped for. He couldn't keep the goofy grin off of his face. Raising his glass to the elderly couple across from him, he toasted his good fortune.

………………………………................................................................................................................................................

Rei reached his room easily, despite his swimming vision and the strange sense of elation he felt, playing havoc with his equilibrium. He giggled slightly as he tried to open the door, breaking into a short, sharp bark of laughter as he made it inside.

So intoxicated was he that he barely registered the foul smell in the room. By the time he did, it was too late.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

After a long bout of writer's block, I'm finally able to continue this fic. Keyword: stoned. Nearly done now… this will be the last Chapter, unless I decide to write an Epilogue.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The pain didn't register at first, when Rei woke up. He knew there was pain, had come to expect it in fact, but his body felt only a sense of numbness. His feet and arms felt wet and cold and his lungs stung with the effort of breathing. That was mainly down to the way he was posed; as his vision cleared he saw the razor wire wrapped around his limbs. Thick coils secured his ankles to the handles on the sides of the bathtub,

_(At least you're still in the hotel room. Thank goodness for small favours, eh?)_

and a long wire was wrapped around his wrists, extending to coil around the shower rails and hang him, suspended, over the tub. A glance down into the tub showed a shallow lake of blood spreading to lap at the sides. Then the pain finally hit him, and he would have screamed if his chest hadn't been under so much strain. There was a tearing, burning sensation in his arms where his arms connected to his shoulders, and stinging that flowed in waves from where his skin was pierced by the barbs.

"I thought you'd never wake up. Good to see you again, Rei."

That oh-so-familiar voice came from behind him and hung in the air like a toxic fog. Rei sucked in another painful gulp of air.

"I know you're Chinese, but how much do you really know about Chinese history? If you'd understood more, maybe we wouldn't be here now."

Rei cast another glance at his feet, though his neck protested. His trousers were unevenly torn at the knee, most likely to facilitate the binding with the wire. He caught a glimpse of Cesare's

_(Francis! Remember, they told you his name, even though you didn't want to hear it!)_

hand as it tightened the wire around his left ankle.

"The Chinese Emperors always had concubines, hundreds of them. These days it's considered a form of slavery, but really it was a valuable part of society. The problem with people these days is that there's too much freedom and not enough boundaries. There are no obstacles to overcome. In those days, the ultimate goal of a concubine was to rise to the level of Empress. They used anything and everything they had to get ahead, sexuality, money, powerful contacts, anything. Once they finally reached the top, they had power over all the other contacts, and in some cases the entire kingdom."

Rei felt a cold hand stroke his burning shoulder.

"That could have been you, Rei. You were the best of them, the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and you seemed to know your place. I gave you privileges I didn't allow the others, because you pleased me."

_"I never set out to please you!" _Rei screamed mentally, because he was unable to say it out loud.

"You could have had more. I would have killed any one of them, Rei, if you had asked me to. All you had to do was know your limits. Instead, you betrayed me."

Cesare punctuated those last three words by tightening the wires around Rei's wrists, pulling back his strained shoulders even more.

"I believed you when you claimed you didn't know about that missing page. I didn't care about the book. I would have burned it if you had asked me to. What really made me angry was that you tried to contact the outside world. You didn't trust me to take care of you. So it's just too bad."

In those few moments, Cesare had allowed some emotion to creep into his voice. The next moment, he had composed himself and resumed talking like a college professor.

"I would have gone for a proper crucifixion, to make your death more romantic, like a religious painting. This will have to do, and it works just as well. It gives you a chance to decide your own death, too. My last gift to you."

_(Like he's gonna let you go that easy. Wait for it…)_

"The barbs in your arms need only a little more pressure to cut through the vein. If I pull on the wire, you will bleed to death in a matter of minutes. Leaves quite a mess, though. That's why I chose to hang you in the tub. If you don't relish the thought of being covered in your own blood, I could drop you an inch or so. The pressure on your lungs will cause you to suffocate. It's hard to say which is more painful, but if I were you I'd choose to bleed out."

_(This is all very well and good, but he hasn't addressed the main issue. You already know you're gonna die, right? That's the least of your worries right now. In fact, I'd say you're pretty relieved to know you're gonna die, am I right? No more fighting off unwanted attention, no more wishing they'd all stop staring, no more pushing all your desires and dreams to the bottom and simply getting through another day without wishing you were dead.)_

"If you choose to bleed to death, I'll have to clean you off afterwards. I want you perfect, pristine in death. You should thank me, Rei. To die now, so young and beautiful, is a gift. That is how they will remember you, preserved by death in eternal youth. They will never see you age and wither and decay. You will be beautiful forever."

_(Young and beautiful forever, huh? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's a damn good thing you don't have any kids, Rei! How could you ever escape the shadow of someone like that, preserved in everyone's memory as a paragon of perfection? Makes everything easier to take, doesn't it? The fact that you were responsible for her dying so young and beautiful. You weren't meant to live at all. It might have been better if she had died in childbirth, then you could have accepted that she made the decision to have you at the cost of her life. You took her life, you weren't meant to have one at all. It's fitting for you to go this way.)_

"I'll look forward to those boys, the ones that took you from me, finding you like this. The one with the greyish-blue hair especially. I could see he was in love with you. I'd say he was an easy conquest."

_(So what about Kai, Rei? He does love you, and he's gonna be the one to find your body. He'll never get over it. But, really, there's nothing you can do about that. It's a damn shame.)_

"But before you die, I will take what you owe me."

Those ice-cold hands began tugging at his clothes.

_(Ha! I knew it! So much for all his pretty words and academic philosophising, at the end of the day he's just a dirty old man. You're not sticking around for this, are you, Rei?)_

With that last mental push from Europa, Rei blacked out.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

On entering the room, Kai knew something was wrong even before he saw that Rei was missing. In his head, a stern voice lectured him.

_(Nice going, Kai. Why did you let him go to the room alone? If anything's happened, he'll never forgive you. And if the worst has happened, how will you forgive yourself?)_

Dranzer seemed to fly into his hand as her readied her for attack. She glimmered lightly to let him know she was ready for battle. The bathroom door was slightly ajar. He approached it cautiously, and then kicked it open dramatically while holding his Blade at throat level.

He saw Rei immediately, suspended by barbed wire over the bathtub and bleeding heavily from the wrists. He was so pale and slumped over, Kai thought for one terrifying moment that he was dead. It was only when he saw the shallow flutter of the Chinese boy's throat that he could quell the panic growing in the pit of his stomach.

"You're back early. I wasn't expecting you for at least another half hour."

That dragged his attention back to the other person in the room, and when he finally saw Cesare's face he was shocked to the very core of his being.

This man, this maniac, this psychotic killer, he was so… ordinary! Middle-aged, balding, with a slight paunch. The face held no scars or warts, not even a hint of a double chin. He wasn't startlingly handsome, or hideously ugly. There was no slightly enlarged head, no strangely positioned eyes, nothing to suggest madness. The man was utterly average, to the point of being mundane. Kai wouldn't have spared him a second glance if he'd seen him walking down the street. Moreover, he didn't even have the decency to look alarmed at Kai's sudden presence. He looked rather bored.

_(He thinks he's smarter than you, Kai. That's why he looks so relaxed. Remember what Tala told you, about sociopaths? He's waiting for you to put a foot wrong, to give him a reason to kill Rei and scar you for life. Play along, but be careful.)_

"Aiming for my throat again with that thing? I wouldn't bother. There's really nothing you can do. He's half dead already."

_(If he's half dead, he's half alive! Don't let that manipulative fucker convince you that it's a lost cause!)_

"You're in love with him, aren't you?"

_(Don't answer that! He'll use it against you!)_

"Foolish, boy. Very foolish. You should never fall in love with someone so beautiful."

_(What the fuck would he know? Don't listen to him!)_

"They are poison, boy. Pure poison." As he spoke, the man's face contorted into a grimace, then a sneer, revealing some element of the monster he really was. "You can beat them, rape them, humiliate them, do any number of terrible things to make them humble. But they never lose it, boy. No matter what happens, they'll always find some way to hurt you."

He pushed Rei's limp form gently, so that the unconscious boy swung slightly as if caught by a gust of wind.

"Look at him. I did all sorts of things to him, things you can't even begin to imagine. I found myself falling in love with him, he got under my skin, just having him near me was enough to inspire love in me."

Kai found himself empathising with the man, much to the horror of his inner voice. He knew how hard it was to resist falling for Rei. He was listening closely, too closely.

_(Kai, he's a fucking madman! Don't you dare listen to him!)_

"In the end, he still managed to betray me. He betrayed me while he was dying. He could have saved himself if he had just shown me some love in return. Let this be a lesson, boy. They don't deserve love. They only deserve to die. They were born cruel."

Kai nodded. So many had fallen for Rei before, he had seen it happen. All had been turned away, heartbroken. Would that happen to Kai, too?

"They're only good for two things, boy; sex and death. You've never touched him that way have you?"

"No," Kai answered, swallowing hard. What Cesare was saying made sense to him.

"He will be dead soon. You're a sensible boy, aren't you? I can let you have a moment with him. Dead or alive, this would have been your only chance."

Despite the blood, despite the obliviousness of the dying child, despite the fear and sorrow which Kai had seen in those lovely amber eyes, Kai felt aroused. If Rei lived, who was to say he would return Kai's feelings? Dranzer wavered in his hands. His inner voice screamed at him, but was drowned out by Kai's longing and the sagacity of Cesare's words.

"Don't feel bad for him. He's broken hearts every step of the way. Take what he owes you for rescuing him in the first place. It's only fair."

Kai moved towards Rei's body as Cesare moved back and sat on the toilet. Kai's hand reached out and stroked a patch of Rei's bare skin, revealed by a torn section of his shirt. It was warm and soft, so soft. He lifted his leg to step into the tub, to stand behind Rei. Reverently, he ran his hands over the other boy's shoulders and back, and pressed a shaky kiss to the neck revealed by the lolling of Rei's head to one side.

_(You sick pervert. And I bet everyone thought you were so noble, being so good to poor abused Rei. Showing your true colours now, aren't you? You're worse than Cesare, Kai. At least he knows he's bad.)_

"Good boy. He deserves no less."

Those last four words reverberated in Kai's head and penetrated him to his very soul.

_He deserves no less…_

_He deserves no less…_

_He deserves no less…_

Memories burst in his mind, clouding his vision with images of Rei, smiling, laughing, crying, sleeping, eating, blading, turning away another suitor, brushing his hair, dressing, talking to friends, cooking, just everyday things everyone did.

_(Feeling bad, Kai? Poor baby! That guy's talking out his ass! Rei's not a God, not an angel, not some villain you need to defeat. He's a goddamn kid, Kai! A kid, same as you and Takao and Max. Sure, he may be beautiful, but he's still human. It's not his fault nobody else seems to realise that!)_

Dranzer flew once again to throat level as he wheeled around to face Cesare. This time, the man looked shocked.

"What are you doing, boy?"

"Rei doesn't deserve this. He never did."

"So what are you going to do, boy? Kill me?"

Kai froze. Although he was now in a position to protect Rei, there was precious little else he could do. He couldn't leave Rei to phone the police, and he had no way of contacting any of his friends. He'd backed himself into a corner.

"Should've taken him when you had the chance, boy. Now you both have to die." Cesare produced a pistol from underneath his jacket and pointed it at the boy's slate-covered temple. Kai's vision seemed to magnify on the man's finger squeezing the trigger.

What happened next was a blur. Kai remembered releasing Dranzer, and two shots were fired. There was a burning feeling in his shoulder and the noise of metal ricocheting off of porcelain deafened him to where he only heard the tiniest pitch of the resulting scream. It could have been him or Cesare, he didn't know which. When the pain began in his shoulder, he fell out over the side of the tub and crashed to the floor.

He stayed there, for almost ten minutes, listening to the sound of his own harsh breathing. At last, when he saw no movement from Cesare, he lifted himself to his feet.

Cesare was dead, though no-one could determine what had done it. There was a bloody gash on the man's throat, which could have been caused by bullet or blade. His face was frozen in an expression of cold indifference. But he wasn't important. Rei was.

Kai leaped into the tub and set about releasing the trapped boy. He unravelled the wires binding his arms first, slowly catching hold of them and pulling gingerly until they came loose. His hands were torn by the barbs again and again, his blood mingling with Rei's until the hands were scarlet. When all the wires were loose, he held the lifeless body close to tackle the wires on his legs. At his shoulder, he felt Rei's chest expand dramatically as the strain on his lungs dissipated and the comatose boy took in great gulps of air. Kai was so relieved he could have cried. He removed the wires binding Rei's ankles to the tub successfully and lifted Rei into his arms to carry him out to the bedroom. He laid him on the bed, and then grabbed some towels from the cupboard to staunch the bleeding from both their wounds.

"What happened?"

Kai looked up to see Max standing in the open doorway, looking terrified. Kai could see the conflict reflected in those wide blue orbs. Poor Max wasn't sure whether to stay and look after his two friends or run for help.

"I heard a bang…" he began, "… what's going…"

"It's okay, Max," Kai groaned, cutting him off, "he's gone. It's all over. But call the police and an ambulance, okay? This'll be the last time, I swear."

Max disappeared as fast as he'd appeared. Kai turned his attention back to Rei's injuries, to find that Rei's eyes were open and he was trying to focus them on the boy in front of him.

" … Kai? Are you dead too?" Rei groaned.

"I'm not dead, and neither are you," Kai whispered.

"I am dead," the Chinese boy murmured, "he came back for me. I knew he would."

"No. He's dead. You're alive."

Rei's eyes widened, and he frowned.

"He's dead? How? What…?"

"I caught him with you. I almost let you go, but I couldn't let him do that to you."

Rei seemed lost in thought for a moment. "You said you wouldn't let anything happen to me. I didn't think you could keep that promise, but you did."

Kai felt a burning sensation, guilt over his momentary lapse back in the bathroom.

"He's dead, Rei. It's over."

Rei closed his eyes, and there was silence. Then, suddenly, he burst into tears. Kai held him as he sobbed on his shoulder until the police arrived.

It really was over.


End file.
